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What does "message broker" mean in programming?

message broker is one of the most common terms in software development. This guide explains what it means, how it is used in practice, and why it matters, with real examples from the developer world.

Definition

A middleware component that enables services to communicate asynchronously by passing messages through a central hub. Producers send messages to the broker; consumers receive them in their own time. Message brokers decouple producers from consumers and buffer traffic spikes. Examples: Kafka, RabbitMQ, AWS SQS.

Example

"When an order is placed, the order service sends a message to the broker. The email service and analytics service each consume it independently."

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