The hottest Databases Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Technology Topics

System Design Concepts: An in-depth guide to Database sharding

Engineering At Scale • 30 implied HN points • 29 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Systems Databases Scaling Performance Architecture
  1. Database sharding splits a large dataset into chunks stored on different machines, increasing storage capacity and distributing queries for better performance.
  2. Sharding allows for high availability by avoiding a single point of failure and higher read/write throughput by distributing query load.
  3. Cost and maintenance overhead are drawbacks of sharding, and it differs from partitioning where data is stored on a single machine.

Sort Product Update – June 2024

Database Engineering by Sort • 7 implied HN points • 03 Jun 24
🕹 Technology Software Databases Cryptocurrency Web Development
  1. Sort is offering $5,000 in bounties to help encourage community members to improve database contributions.
  2. They have launched a new public database for Ethereum, which includes a variety of data related to NFTs and transactions.
  3. New features like Change Requests are on the way, along with bug fixes and a refreshed landing page for better user experience.

Quoras Database Sharding [System Design Sundays]

Technology Made Simple • 39 implied HN points • 25 Apr 22
🕹 Technology Databases Systems Design Social media
  1. Database sharding is crucial for large-scale systems, allowing databases to be split across multiple computers for quicker searches by filtering out unnecessary tables.
  2. Sharding based on important characteristics, like user platforms, can improve data analysis and streamline data management for platforms like social media sites.
  3. Utilizing database sharding heavily can lead to more efficient operations and a better user experience, commonly seen in large-scale social media platforms.

From Complexity to Simplicity: How Sort Transforms Database Collaboration

Database Engineering by Sort • 7 implied HN points • 16 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Databases Collaboration AI Security Workflows
  1. Sort makes it easier for teams to work together on databases without the usual complicated processes. This helps everyone stay productive and reduces security risks.
  2. You can connect Sort to major database providers and use it on your mobile phone. This means you can collaborate on data from anywhere you go.
  3. Sort simplifies permissions and access control, so you don’t have to worry about sharing connection details. You just add team members to your organization and they get access easily.

Interviewing my mother, a mainframe COBOL programmer

kelsey’s Substack • 319 implied HN points • 09 Jul 16
🕹 Technology Programming Databases Infrastructure Legacy Systems
  1. Mainframe COBOL programming is a crucial and irreplaceable aspect of the banking world, despite its less popular status compared to modern languages like Java.
  2. Banks running on mainframes face challenges like aging programmers, maintaining legacy systems, and transitioning to more modern technology.
  3. Working as a mainframe COBOL programmer for a bank involves dealing with large amounts of transaction data, intricate databases, and complex IDE like ISPF.
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State Farming

FREST Substack • 2 HN points • 14 Jul 24
🕹 Technology Coding Software Programming Databases Computer Science
  1. Coding can be seen as managing bits of information, or 'state', rather than just writing long programs. This means we need to handle and connect these pieces carefully to avoid complicated issues.
  2. Using coding languages that are too complex can introduce many problems like bugs and slow performance. It's better to use simpler methods when possible to make our code cleaner and easier to maintain.
  3. Relying more on databases and simpler query languages can help us streamline our coding. This way, we can focus on essential computations and reduce the amount of complex code we need to write.

System Design of Uber's CacheFront - Serving more than 40 million low-latency reads per second

Engineering At Scale • 4 HN points • 03 Mar 24
🕹 Technology System Design Caching Databases Scalability Integrations
  1. Uber developed CacheFront, an integrated caching solution to overcome problems like maintenance overhead, reduced developer productivity, and region failovers caused by using Redis for caching
  2. Docstore's architecture includes a Control plane, Query Engine, and Storage Engine, with relevant responsibilities for each layer like query execution, data persistence, transaction management, and more
  3. CacheFront's design addressed non-functional requirements like consistency guarantees, cache warming & region failovers, fault tolerance, hot partition issues, and performance & cost improvements

Vector Databases: Databases for the AI era

Engineering At Scale • 3 HN points • 15 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Databases AI Search Applications Conclusion
  1. Vector databases are trending in the tech industry, especially with AI applications and investments from various sources.
  2. Data can be classified into structured, semi-structured, and unstructured categories, each requiring different database solutions.
  3. Vector databases excel in handling unstructured data, like images and videos, providing specialized search capabilities for applications like recommendation systems and fraud detection.

The Excel User's Guide to Databases: Schemas

Technically • 1 implied HN point • 06 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Databases
  1. Understanding schemas in databases is crucial for anyone working with engineers.
  2. Changes to database schemas can be complex and time-consuming, causing delays in project timelines.
  3. Having a basic knowledge of schemas can help non-technical team members communicate better with engineers.

Connection Pooling — How, what and why? [Case study]

The ZenMode • 1 HN point • 17 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Networking Databases Performance Management Security
  1. Connection pooling helps manage database connections efficiently by creating a pool of connections and reusing them instead of opening and closing for each query. This can significantly improve performance and scalability.
  2. Without connection pooling, establishing new connections for each request can lead to slow response times, resource exhaustion, and scalability issues. Connection pooling can help alleviate these problems by minimizing connection creation latency.
  3. When setting up connection pools, consider factors like application workload, expected concurrent users, and database type. Monitor metrics like response times, wait times, and error rates to optimize pool size and configuration for optimal performance.

Fixing Java Thread & Database Connection Leaks For Fun & Profit

Synystron Synlogica • 1 HN point • 30 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Programming Engineering Software Databases Code Optimization
  1. Encountered a memory leak with Java threads due to instantiation of threads but never starting them.
  2. Identified a database connection leak in a Java app due to a race condition in a connection pool initialization code.
  3. Fixed the issues by patching code, improving exception handling, and implementing best practices for thread and connection management.

OpenStreetMap Raster Tile Server : A Long Journey

rtnF • 0 implied HN points • 20 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Maps Web Databases
  1. The post discusses setting up a custom tile server with OpenStreetMap data using own server.
  2. It provides step-by-step instructions to prepare the OS, database, and download, standardize OSM data.
  3. It also guides on configuring the stylesheet, renderer, and miscellaneous tasks for server monitoring.

PostgreSQL Sort estimation instability

Conserving CPU's cycles ... • 0 implied HN points • 26 Jun 24
🕹 Technology Databases Optimization SQL
  1. Incremental sort was added in PostgreSQL 2020 to enhance sorting strategies and improve efficiency in handling large datasets and analytical queries.
  2. Estimation instability in PostgreSQL's sort operations can lead to unexpected query plans and performance differences, emphasizing the importance of careful estimation.
  3. The vulnerability in PostgreSQL's optimizer code showcases how the choice of expression evaluation can impact query performance, highlighting a need for optimization improvements.

MSSQL query plan optimisation advantages

Conserving CPU's cycles ... • 0 implied HN points • 21 May 24
🕹 Technology Databases Optimization Migration Statistics
  1. In MSSQL to PostgreSQL migrations, challenges like query slowdowns may arise, with some queries taking significantly longer to execute in PostgreSQL compared to MSSQL.
  2. Join algorithm selection and parallelism are two key advantages contributing to MSSQL's impressive query execution speed.
  3. Multi-clause selectivity estimation in MSSQL allows for more precise cardinality estimation in complex join queries, giving it an edge over PostgreSQL in certain scenarios.

PostgreSQL Asymmetric Join technique as a Further Evolution of Partitionwise Join

Conserving CPU's cycles ... • 0 implied HN points • 05 May 24
🕹 Technology Databases Optimization Programming Development Software
  1. The Asymmetric Join (AJ) technique in PostgreSQL allows for more efficient parallel append operations by individually connecting each partition with a non-partitioned relation and merging results.
  2. One advantage of the Asymmetric Join technique is the independent choice of join strategy for each partition, leading to improved table scan filtering and reduced hash table sizes.
  3. Considerations for implementing the Asymmetric Join include growing search space for plans, restrictions on the inner and outer relations, and the necessity of checking partitioning schemes for different plain and partitioned relation combinations.

Implementing Attribute-Level Encryption with DynamoDB

realkinetic • 0 implied HN points • 01 May 24
🕹 Technology Encryption Databases Cloud Computing Programming Data security
  1. When working with sensitive data, having a strong security story and implementing attribute-level encryption is crucial.
  2. For extremely sensitive data, transparent encryption may not be sufficient, and application-level encryption adds an extra layer of security.
  3. Implementing attribute-level encryption for Amazon DynamoDB with KMS in Python can be achieved through a pattern using Lambda as the runtime, with the architecture built and managed using AWS CDK.

The Best Add-ons I use on Heroku

Implementing • 0 implied HN points • 29 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Development Databases Caching Scheduling
  1. Heroku add-ons can make server setup smoother by providing services like databases and caches, allowing for flexibility as the application grows.
  2. Choosing cost-effective and reliable database add-ons like Heroku Postgres can be crucial for project success, offering scalability without losing data.
  3. Utilizing cache add-ons like Redis Cloud and search engine add-ons like Bonsai Elasticsearch can enhance app performance, with options for free plans to start.

Building Question Similarity Search using Vector DB

The Beep • 0 implied HN points • 11 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Software Databases Programming Data science Machine Learning
  1. Creating a question similarity system can help avoid duplicate posts on forums like Stack Overflow. This makes it easier for users to find existing answers and helps contributors manage their workload better.
  2. The system uses Vector databases and text embeddings to show related questions as users type their title. This means users get instant suggestions, which improves their experience when asking for help.
  3. To build this system, you need to follow a few steps including getting data, creating a database, transforming questions into embeddings, and finding similar questions. It's a straightforward process if you break it down.

On Databases and Memory

Thoughts from the trenches in FAANG + Indie • 0 implied HN points • 06 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Databases Consulting Performance Migration Engineering
  1. Migrating from one database system to another, like from PostgreSQL to MongoDB, might not solve performance issues and could be costly and slow. It's often better to analyze if the migration will really help before proceeding.
  2. Understanding how databases work is crucial. Different databases use memory and disk in similar ways, so just switching systems might not lead to significant improvements.
  3. There are effective ways to boost database performance without major migrations. Improving cache, using faster disks, and optimizing indexing strategies can help both PostgreSQL and MongoDB perform better.

Internal Storage Design of Modern Key-value Database Engines [Part 1]

Practical Data Engineering Substack • 0 implied HN points • 05 Aug 23
🕹 Technology Databases Software Data Structures Engineering
  1. Key-value stores use a simple model where each piece of data has a unique key and its associated value. This makes them great for fast lookups, especially when you only need to search by key.
  2. The log-structured data design helps improve writing speed by storing data in order and delaying updates until they're batched together. This means the system can handle many writes quickly.
  3. Many modern key-value stores are inspired by early successes like Amazon's DynamoDB and Google's BigTable. These systems have shaped how newer ones are built to be efficient and scalable.

Range Partitioning: Zero to One

aspiring.dev • 0 implied HN points • 17 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Databases Distributed Systems Data Structures Software Engineering Cloud Computing
  1. Range partitioning splits data into key ranges to improve performance and scalability. This method helps databases manage heavy loads by distributing data efficiently.
  2. Unlike hash partitioning, range partitioning allows for easier scaling. You can adjust the number of ranges as needed without the hassle of rewriting data.
  3. While range partitioning is powerful, it can be tricky to implement and may struggle with very sequential workloads. Planning is necessary to avoid creating performance hotspots.

Dataflow 101: Exploring Essential Modes for Efficient Applications

DataSketch’s Substack • 0 implied HN points • 13 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Data Engineering APIs Databases Real-Time Processing Software Architecture
  1. Databases are key for storing and managing data, supporting both everyday transactions and complex analysis. Using them effectively helps data engineers connect different platforms and applications.
  2. Different data transfer methods, like REST and RPC, help systems communicate efficiently, just like a well-organized library or a quick phone call. Choosing the right method depends on the speed and precision needed for the task.
  3. Message-passing systems allow for flexible and real-time data processing, making them great for applications like IoT or e-commerce. They help ensure communications between services happen smoothly and reliably.

Announcing the Sort API for Automating Postgres and Snowflake Workflows

Database Engineering by Sort • 0 implied HN points • 07 Nov 24
🕹 Technology APIs Databases Automation Workflows Integration
  1. The Sort API helps automate and manage workflows in Postgres and Snowflake, making it easier for teams to work with their databases.
  2. With Change Requests, users can track, review, and execute changes to their data, which enhances collaboration and transparency.
  3. The API offers powerful querying capabilities, allowing users to define and run their own queries for better data retrieval in their workflows.

Vector Database Checklist Point

The Beep • 0 implied HN points • 01 Mar 24
🕹 Technology AI Data Software Search Databases
  1. Always start with a clear goal when building a VectorDB. This helps in setting the right direction and making evaluation easier.
  2. Data quality is crucial for VectorDB to work well. Clean and well-prepared data leads to better search results.
  3. Choosing the right VectorDB is important. Picking the wrong one can lead to issues with how effectively it retrieves information.

HN blogs - 11/2/24

HackerNews blogs newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 11 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Web Security Development Interviews Databases
  1. There are new technologies and strategies being discussed on HN blogs like Tiny NAS setups and using the Web Crypto API for message verification.
  2. Interesting discussions are happening in the tech world, like the return of skeuomorphism and the importance of backpressure in systems.
  3. Creative and unique concepts are being explored, such as the 'Listen to Yourself' pattern and building and showcasing unconventional ideas.