Talks and teaching

An online class on database fundamentals, ending on how to choose between them for a given problem.

• Types and paradigmsData stores versus databases; SQL, NoSQL and NewSQL; key-value, wide-column, document, relational and graph.
• PrinciplesACID properties and the CAP theorem.
• DesignNormalisation, atomicity, indexing, and picking a paradigm that fits.

Distributed databases from first principles, then what Yugabyte does about them.

• FundamentalsDistributed scale, network partitions and the CAP theorem.
• YugabytePostgreSQL compatibility in YSQL, horizontal write scalability, all-active nodes, fault tolerance and full ACID compliance.
• APIsYSQL as fully relational SQL, YCQL as semi-relational and tuned for throughput.

Where NewSQL came from, and why "SQL or NoSQL" stopped being the question.

• ComparisonSQL versus NoSQL, and what NewSQL adds.
• DistributionHow a distributed database actually distributes.
• ResilienceReplication factor and fault tolerance.

The kinds of testing a backend team should know about, and the tools that make each cheap enough to actually do.

• CoverageTypes of testing, and where each earns its keep.
• Load testingLocust, and building in-house automation on its API.

How a Go binary fails, how to avoid it, and how to recover when it happens anyway.

• TopicsPanic and recover, fatal, and mutexes.

Concurrency in Go, and the context package that makes it manageable.

• TopicsGoroutines and using them correctly; context, and what it is actually good for.