What does "pub/sub" mean in programming?
pub/sub 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
Publish/Subscribe. A messaging pattern where publishers send messages to topics without knowing which subscribers will receive them, and subscribers receive only the messages from topics they are subscribed to. Pub/sub decouples producers and consumers completely. Used in Google Cloud Pub/Sub, Redis Pub/Sub, and Kafka.
Example
"The notification service uses pub/sub: any service can publish an 'order.shipped' event, and the SMS service and push notification service both subscribe to it."
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