All 22 articles, sorted alphabetically
Database Connection Pooling
A deep dive on database connection pooling: why connections are expensive, connection lifecycle and overhead, pooling modes (statement, transaction, s…
Read article →Bitmap index architecture
Deep-dive on bitmap indexes: one bitmap per distinct value, boolean AND/OR/NOT and popcount query evaluation, compression with RLE/Roaring, where they…
Read article →Bloom filter architecture in LSM engines
Deep-dive on Bloom filters in log-structured merge-tree databases: how a compact bit array and k hash functions answer 'definitely absent' o…
Read article →Buffer pool architecture
Deep-dive on database buffer pools: page tables and frames, pin counts and latches, clock sweep and midpoint LRU scan resistance, the WAL-before-data …
Read article →CDC via logical decoding
Deep-dive on Change Data Capture via logical decoding: WAL-based change streaming, logical decoding of physical records, replication slots and output …
Read article →Connection pooling architecture
Deep-dive on database connection pooling: why connections are expensive, application pools vs proxy poolers, session vs transaction pooling trade-offs…
Read article →Database deadlock detection architecture
Deep-dive on deadlock handling in databases: the lock manager and wait-for graph, eager vs lazy cycle detection, victim-selection policies, timeout fa…
Read article →GIN inverted index architecture
Deep-dive on the Generalized Inverted Index (GIN): extracting many keys per composite value, mapping each key to a sorted posting list of row ids with…
Read article →Group commit architecture
Deep-dive on database group commit: why one fsync per transaction caps throughput at flush latency, how the commit queue and group leader let many com…
Read article →Hash join architecture
Deep-dive on the hash join: the algorithm that makes equality joins on large, unindexed relations fast by building a hash table on the smaller input a…
Read article →LSM-tree storage engine architecture
Deep-dive on the Log-Structured Merge tree: WAL-plus-MemTable write path, immutable SSTables with bloom filters and block index, L0/L1..Ln level struc…
Read article →Materialized views -- precomputed query results
Deep-dive on database materialized views: the expensive-query need, precomputing and storing results, materialized vs regular view (stored vs recomput…
Read article →MVCC -- readers and writers that never block each other
Deep-dive on Multi-Version Concurrency Control (MVCC): the reader-writer contention problem, keeping multiple versions, consistent snapshots, no read …
Read article →OLTP vs OLAP Database Architectures in Depth
A 2500-word walkthrough of OLTP row stores vs OLAP column stores, CDC/ETL pipelines, lakehouse architectures, and HTAP alternatives.
Read article →Database sharding -- horizontal partitioning across nodes
Deep-dive on database sharding: the single-node limit, the critical shard key choice, sharding strategies (hash/range/directory), routing, hot shards …
Read article →Transactional Database Architecture in Depth
A 2500-word walkthrough of transactional DB: MVCC, lock manager, WAL/redo, rollback, isolation levels, 2PC, vacuum, recovery.
Read article →Two-phase commit architecture
Deep-dive on two-phase commit: the prepare and decide phases, write-ahead logging on coordinator and participants, held locks and the in-doubt window,…
Read article →Vacuum and bloat architecture
Deep-dive on Postgres vacuum and bloat: why MVCC updates leave dead tuples, the cluster-wide visibility horizon and the idle transactions, replication…
Read article →Vector Database Architecture in Depth
A 2500-word walkthrough of vector database architecture: embedder, HNSW/IVF/DiskANN indexes, metadata filter, hybrid search, quantization, sharding.
Read article →Write amplification architecture
Deep-dive on write amplification in LSM storage engines: the WAL/memtable/flush path, leveled vs tiered compaction rewrites, the read/write/space trad…
Read article →PostgreSQL Indexes
The four PostgreSQL index types explained: B-tree for range queries and sorting, GIN for inverted indexes and full-text search, GIST for spatial and c…
Read article →PostgreSQL Logical Replication + CDC
PostgreSQL logical replication: row-level selective replication across major versions, WAL-based change data capture, replication slots and decoding, …
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