Latency Principles
Latency Principles
Based on "Latency: Reduce delay in software systems" by Pekka Enberg (Manning, 2026).
This skill provides a systematic framework for minimizing delay in software systems, covering the entire stack from Physics and Hardware to Application Architecture and User Experience.
Foundational Concepts
- What is Latency?: The time delay between a cause and its observed effect.
- Latency vs. Bandwidth: You can always add more bandwidth (more links), but you are stuck with bad latency unless you optimize the path.
- Impact on User Experience (UX): < 100ms (immediate), < 1s (instant), > 10s (slow).
- Measuring Correctly: Use percentiles (p95, p99) to capture tail latency. Avoid averages. Avoid Coordinated Omission by using fixed-interval benchmarking.
Modeling Performance
Use these laws to establish theoretical bounds and size systems:
- Little's Law:
Concurrency (C) = Throughput (T) * Latency (L)- Usage: Calculate required concurrency to support a target throughput at a given latency.
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