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How Computer Clocks Work
- Computer clocks rely on an oscillator generating interrupts to keep time.
- Oscillator quality varies, affecting clock accuracy and causing drift due to factors like heat.
Concept of Clock Synchronization
- Clock synchronization means all clocks agree within a margin at the same instant.
- External reference time like UTC comes from atomic clocks relayed via GPS signals.
Importance of Synchronized Clocks
- Accurate synchronized clocks allow determining total event ordering in distributed systems.
- Without sync, comparing timestamps across participants is unreliable and ordering becomes unclear.