Challenges & Limitations of CRDTs

Like the intricacies of the movie industry and the minute details in executing a perfect world tour, CRDTs also come with their share of quirks. And like an experienced film director or tour operator, it's essential for us engineers to understand these challenges before diving into CRDTs.

First, memory overhead is a significant concern. Since CRDTs often maintain history to resolve conflicts, the memory consumed tends to increase with the number of operations performed. Just like shooting multiple takes of every scene can make a movie's budget skyrocket, or adding numerous destinations to a travel plan can make it exhausting rather than enjoyable.

Second, the latency involved in propagating updates to all replicas affects the system's performance, especially for large systems. It's akin to the delays in film distribution in different regions or communication lags in coordinating the different legs of a trip.

Finally, designing effective garbage collection mechanisms for CRDTs is a challenge. Without them, the storage space requirements aren't sustainable. That would be like shooting endless film rolls without ever editing, or hoarding moments and souvenirs from travels without ever organizing them.

Despite these challenges, it's worth noting that the continuous advancements in CRDT research and development, along with innovative implementation strategies, often mitigate these limitations.