Java Concurrency in Action: Implementing Scatter-Gather Pattern for Efficient API Aggregation
In today’s fast-paced digital world, users demand quick and efficient services, especially on platforms like price comparison websites where response time is crucial.
The Scatter-Gather Pattern is an asynchronous design pattern that distributes a task (scatter phase) among multiple independent components or systems and aggregates the responses (gather phase) within a specified time limit. It’s ideal for scenarios where a service needs to retrieve data from multiple sources and aggregate it quickly. Let’s look at how this pattern can be applied to design a Search Service.
The scatter-gather pattern in Java provides an elegant solution to this challenge, allowing a system to concurrently make API calls to multiple sources (like Amazon, eBay, Walmart), aggregate the responses, and deliver the best result without unnecessary delays. By implementing scatter-gather, we can improve responsiveness and resilience, even when some sources are slower or unavailable.
Designing a Search Service with the Scatter-Gather Pattern
Imagine a search service where user queries are sent to different data sources (workers) for faster and more comprehensive results. Here’s how the pattern helps:
