DEEP DIVES &EXPLORATIONS.
Topics I study, experiment with, and apply in production. Each entry represents hours of research and practical application.
B+ Tree Indexing
How PostgreSQL uses B+ Trees for efficient range queries and ordered traversal. Understanding node splitting, fill factors, and partial indexes.
Node.js Event Loop
The single-threaded model, libuv thread pool, microtask queue priorities, and why understanding the event loop is critical for high-throughput servers.
Distributed Consensus
Raft, Paxos, and the practical reality of achieving consensus in distributed systems. Leader election, log replication, and split-brain scenarios.
Redis Internals
Single-threaded event loop, data structures (skip lists, hash tables), persistence modes (RDB vs AOF), and replication strategies.
Query Optimization
Reading EXPLAIN ANALYZE output, understanding sequential vs index scans, join strategies, and when the planner makes suboptimal choices.
Realtime Processing
Stream processing vs batch processing, backpressure handling, windowing strategies, and building systems that react in milliseconds.
System Bottlenecks
Identifying and resolving bottlenecks: database connection pooling, N+1 queries, lock contention, and memory pressure patterns.
Feature Flag Patterns
Trunk-based development with flags, percentage rollouts, user segment targeting, and the operational cost of long-lived flags.