Pub/Sub

Definition

A messaging pattern where senders (publishers) send messages to a topic without knowing who the receivers (subscribers) are. Subscribers express interest in specific topics and receive messages automatically when they are published.

Where you hear it

In system architecture discussions, distributed systems design, and when choosing messaging infrastructure for microservices.

Examples

• We use Pub/Sub to decouple our user service from the email notification system.
• The analytics engine subscribes to the click-stream topic to process user events in real-time.