Summary

In this chapter, we provided an introduction to low latency applications. First, we defined latency-sensitive and latency-critical applications and different measures of latency. We then discussed different metrics that are important in low latency applications and other considerations that define the requirements of low latency applications.

We spent a section of this chapter understanding why C++ is most frequently chosen for low latency applications across different businesses. Specifically, we discussed the features of the language itself and also the flexibility and low-level nature of the language, which makes C++ a perfect fit when it comes to low latency applications.

Finally, we looked at many different examples of low latency applications across different businesses and the similarities they share. The point of that discussion is that even though the business cases are different, these applications share a lot of common requirements and features. Again, here, C++ is a good fit for most (if not all) of these low latency applications in different business areas.

In the next chapter, we will discuss some of the most popular low latency applications in much greater detail. In this book, we will be using low latency electronic trading as a case study to understand and apply C++ low latency techniques. However, before we do that, we will explore other low latency applications such as real-time video streaming, real-time offline and online video gaming applications, and IoT applications as well.