What approach or pattern is used to implement distributed transactions?

The pattern often used for implementing distributed transactions is Two-Phase Commit (2PC).

Pattern essence:

1. Prepare phase: the transaction coordinator sends a request to all participants to prepare for commit. Participants check if they can execute the transaction and respond with "ready" or "abort".
2. Commit phase: if all participants are ready, the coordinator sends a commit command; otherwise, it initiates a rollback.

This approach ensures data consistency in a distributed system but can be blocking and may have issues with fault tolerance.

Alternatives and improvements:

• Saga pattern — breaks the transaction into a series of local transactions with compensating actions.
• Three-Phase Commit (3PC) — reduces the likelihood of blocking.

Example of a simplified 2PC scheme:

// Coordinator sends Prepare
// Participants respond
// If all are ready, send Commit
// Otherwise, Rollback

In Go, 2PC can be implemented using RPC or specialized libraries for distributed transactions.