Generating Unique and Sortable IDs in Distributed Systems

Explores the challenge of generating unique and sortable identifiers in distributed systems without central coordination. Compares traditional approaches like database auto-increment and UUIDs with their limitations, then presents three timestamp-based solutions: ULID (millisecond precision, Base32 encoding), KSUID (second precision, high collision resistance), and Snowflake ID (64-bit numeric format requiring machine ID coordination). Each solution offers different trade-offs between compactness, collision resistance, and coordination requirements.