Lamport Timestamp
Lamport timestamps implement causal partial ordering with a monotonically increasing counter plus message piggybacking; the foundation of distributed event ordering.
Purpose
To provide lightweight causal ordering and understand its precision difference from vector clocks.
Mechanism
Local event: L = L + 1. Send message: attach L. Receive message: L = max(L, msg.L) + 1. Guarantees that if a causally precedes b then L(a) < L(b), but not the converse (weaker than vector clocks).
Use cases
- Distributed event ordering
- Causal partial order
- Lamport clocks