Decentralizing the files was easy. Decentralizing the answer to “where is the file?” was where things got interesting. "How peer-to-peer systems evolved from Napster’s centralized directory and Gnutella’s query flooding to structured overlays, DHTs, and Chord’s logarithmic routing." Peer-to-peer file sharing begins with an idea that feels ✨ simple ✨ Alice has a file. Bob wants the file. Why place a giant server in the middle? Let Bob download it directly from Alice. ...