#Databases
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Write-ahead logging: the mechanism behind database durability.
WAL is how PostgreSQL guarantees that committed transactions survive crashes. Understanding it explains database performance characteristics and replication.
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Database sharding: when vertical scaling isn't enough.
Sharding partitions data across multiple database instances. Here's how the partitioning strategies work and what operational complexity they introduce.
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Optimistic concurrency: handling conflicts without locking rows.
Pessimistic locking serializes access to data and creates contention. Optimistic concurrency lets transactions proceed freely and detects conflicts only when they actually occur.
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Cursor-based pagination: the implementation that doesn't break under load.
Offset pagination skips rows, which breaks when data changes between pages. Cursor-based pagination uses a stable position marker that stays correct regardless of concurrent writes.
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Drizzle ORM: the type-safe query builder that stays close to SQL.
Drizzle gives you TypeScript types over your database queries without hiding the SQL. The mental model stays SQL — the ergonomics become TypeScript.
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Prisma vs raw SQL: what you give up and what you gain.
Prisma trades SQL control for developer ergonomics. Understanding exactly what that trade looks like helps you decide when each approach is appropriate.
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The CAP theorem: what distributed systems can and can't guarantee.
What the CAP theorem actually says, how real databases position themselves, and what this means when choosing a data store.
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Database replication: read replicas and why they help.
How PostgreSQL replication works, when read replicas make sense, and how to route reads and writes in your application.
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Vector search: finding similar content without keyword matching.
How vector databases work, how to query them efficiently, and when to use them instead of traditional search.