> There is no "extent" to which CRDTs are conflict free, CRDTs are by definition always 100% conflict free.
CRDTs are always conflict-free. I am not disagreeing with that. I was trying to draw attention to the fact that just because the CRDT always commutes does not mean that a user does not perceive there to have been a conflict - out of a multiple contradictory edits the commute operation will ensure only one succeeds. So yes, the CRDT itself is conflict free, but it wasn't my point.
They aren't magic. The deal with tie breakers when they have to. I've seen posts where suggestions of building a CRDT-based source control system are being bandied around with claims that there will be no conflicts - sure, there won't be. Will the code make sense or even compile - probably not.
A conflict to a CRDT is one thing and a conflict to a user is something else entirely.
CRDTs are always conflict-free. I am not disagreeing with that. I was trying to draw attention to the fact that just because the CRDT always commutes does not mean that a user does not perceive there to have been a conflict - out of a multiple contradictory edits the commute operation will ensure only one succeeds. So yes, the CRDT itself is conflict free, but it wasn't my point.
They aren't magic. The deal with tie breakers when they have to. I've seen posts where suggestions of building a CRDT-based source control system are being bandied around with claims that there will be no conflicts - sure, there won't be. Will the code make sense or even compile - probably not.
A conflict to a CRDT is one thing and a conflict to a user is something else entirely.