Databases
Time-Series Databases: When to Reach for One
When a time-series database earns its place over a general-purpose one, and what you give up in exchange for the speed it buys you.
3 min read
Category
Databases
20 articles
Databases
MongoDB Schema Design Principles That Hold Up in Production
Schema design principles for MongoDB that hold up under real query patterns, not just the ones that look clean in a demo.
3 min read
Databases
Redis Data Structures and the Caching Patterns Built on Them
A tour of Redis's core data structures and the caching, rate-limiting, and leaderboard patterns each one is actually built for.
3 min read
Databases
Postgres VACUUM and the Bloat It's Fighting
What Postgres's VACUUM process is actually cleaning up, why tables bloat despite it, and how to keep autovacuum from falling behind.
3 min read
Databases
Understanding and Avoiding Database Deadlocks
Why deadlocks happen even in well-designed schemas, how to read a deadlock log, and the lock-ordering habits that prevent them.
3 min read
Databases
CTEs and Recursive Queries: Solving Hierarchies in SQL
How common table expressions clean up nested subqueries, and how recursive CTEs turn hierarchical data into a solvable SQL problem.
3 min read
Databases
Window Functions Every Developer Should Know
An introduction to window functions — running totals, rankings, and moving averages — for anyone still reaching for self-joins and subqueries.
3 min read
Databases
Raw SQL vs ORM: Where to Draw the Line
A practical framework for deciding when an ORM query is fine and when it's time to drop down to raw SQL, with real examples of each.
3 min read
Databases
The N+1 Problem Across ORMs, and How to Actually Fix It
Why the N+1 query problem keeps reappearing across every ORM, how to spot it before production does, and the fixes that actually hold up.
3 min read
Databases
Zero-Downtime Schema Migrations in Production
Techniques for adding columns, changing types, and backfilling data on a live table without locking it or breaking the app mid-deploy.
3 min read
Databases
Full-Text Search Inside Your Database (Before You Reach for Elasticsearch)
How to use your database's built-in full-text search before reaching for a separate search cluster, and where it stops being enough.
3 min read
Databases
JSON Columns: When Schemaless Inside SQL Makes Sense
A practical look at JSON and JSONB columns: when they replace a schema migration, when they hide a design problem, and how to index them.
3 min read
Databases
Normalization vs Pragmatic Denormalization
When strict normalization protects you, when it just adds joins, and how to denormalize deliberately instead of by accident.
3 min read
Databases
Synchronous vs Asynchronous Replication: The Real Trade-offs
What synchronous and asynchronous replication actually guarantee during a failover, and why the choice is really about how much data you can lose.
3 min read
Databases
Table Partitioning Strategies That Actually Pay Off
A comparison of range, list, and hash partitioning strategies, when each one earns its operational complexity, and when it's premature.
3 min read
Databases
Connection Pooling: Sizing It Right and Avoiding the Pitfalls
Why connection pool sizing is a math problem, not a guess, and the deadlocks, leaks, and saturation bugs that show up when it's sized wrong.
3 min read
Databases
MVCC: How Postgres Handles Concurrency Without Locking Everything
How Postgres lets readers and writers proceed without blocking each other, what a snapshot actually is, and where MVCC's costs show up later.
3 min read
Databases
Transaction Isolation Levels and the Anomalies They Allow
A tour of READ UNCOMMITTED through SERIALIZABLE, the dirty reads and phantom rows each level permits, and how to pick one without guessing.
3 min read
Databases
Reading Query Execution Plans Without Guessing
A field guide to reading EXPLAIN output, spotting sequential scans that shouldn't be there, and turning a query plan into an actual fix.
3 min read
Databases
How B-Tree Indexes Actually Work
A practical walkthrough of B-tree index internals, why they dominate relational databases, and how their structure shapes real query performance.
3 min read