Task Queues
Task queues are software systems that manage and execute background jobs or tasks asynchronously, decoupling time-consuming operations from the main application flow to improve performance and reliability. They typically involve a producer that enqueues tasks, a message broker that stores them, and workers that process the tasks, often supporting features like retries, prioritization, and monitoring.
Developers should use task queues when handling long-running processes (e.g., sending emails, processing images, or generating reports) that could block user requests or degrade application responsiveness. They are essential in distributed systems for scaling workloads, ensuring fault tolerance, and managing resource-intensive operations in web applications, microservices, or data pipelines.