This document discusses distributed and cloud computing. It begins by defining distributed computing as a field that studies distributed systems. It then discusses centralized, decentralized, and distributed systems. Centralized systems use a client-server model with one central server. Decentralized systems have multiple central nodes without a single authority. Distributed systems have autonomous nodes that coordinate via middleware. The document also discusses distributed computing architectures like clusters, grids, and clouds. Clusters connect similar nodes locally, while grids connect heterogeneous nodes over long distances. Cloud computing delivers on-demand computing resources over the internet.