Software architecture refers to the high-level structure of a software system and the discipline of creating such structures. It is the blueprint for a software project and involves the description of the system’s components, their relationships, and the guidelines governing their design and evolution over time. These components may include software applications, data, services, and infrastructure. Key aspects include functionality, performance, resilience, reuse, comprehensibility, and scalability. The role of a software architect involves making strategic decisions related to the system design, such as choosing the right architectural styles (e.g., client-server, peer-to-peer, microservices), patterns, and technologies. Effective software architecture plays a critical role in achieving the technical and business goals of a software system.
Distributed locks are a critical concept in the world of distributed systems, necessary for maintaining data consistency, coordination, and synchronization across various nodes of a system. They serve as a concurrency control mechanism to restrict multiple processes from accessing or modifying shared resources simultaneously. In this post, we take a look at a few ways to implement a distributed locks using redis, zookeeper and etcd.
Introduction A distributed key-value store is a simple and effective database design. As the name implies, it allows storage of data in a key-value pair, allowing quick and efficient access to the data. Distributed means that the data is spread… Read More »How would you design a distributed key-value store?
In the world of software architecture, technical prowess alone is not sufficient for success. Alongside a deep understanding of systems and coding languages, a myriad of soft skills are required to effectively navigate this role. These non-technical skills often form… Read More »Key soft skills for Software Architects
Processing of Normal Non-Prepared Statements Non-prepared statements, also known as direct SQL statements, involve SQL queries being written and sent to the database directly. The steps involved in processing a normal SQL statement are: This whole process is repeated each… Read More »How Does a Database Engine Process Prepared Statements Compared to Normal Statements, and Why Are Prepared Statements Faster
Common Table Expressions (CTEs) provide a way to write auxiliary statements for use in a larger query. These auxiliary statements, essentially named subqueries, can be referenced later in the FROM clause. They make queries easier to understand by breaking them up into smaller, simpler parts.
A database cursor is a mechanism used to traverse through a set of data retrieved from a database. Cursors are commonly used in programming languages to execute queries that retrieve a large number of rows. Cursors allow for more control over the processing of data and can be used to perform tasks such as updating or deleting records. However, cursors can be resource-intensive and slow down performance, so they should only be used when necessary.
A view is a virtual table that is based on one or more tables, while a materialized view is a physical copy of a view that is stored on disk. Unlike views, materialized views can be indexed for faster access and can improve query performance in data-intensive environments.
The CAP theorem, also known as Brewer’s theorem, is a concept in distributed database systems that states it is impossible for a distributed data store to simultaneously provide more than two out of the following three guarantees: In other words,… Read More »What is CAP theorem in the context of databases, and how does it apply to NoSQL databases?
Partitioning a database entails splitting a large database into more manageable, smaller segments known as partitions. This segmentation is performed based on several strategies such as range, list, hash, and composite partitioning, each dictating the way data is divided. Let’s… Read More »What is the concept of partitioning in databases and its advantages?
Optimizing a database for a large-scale, high-transaction environment involves several strategies: Remember, each database and use case is unique, so these strategies should be applied as appropriate for your specific situation. It’s also a good idea to thoroughly test any… Read More »How to optimize a database for large-scale, high-transaction environment