Distributed Systems

LSM Trees Explained

LSM trees make a deliberate choice: optimize for updates, accept read amplification as the cost.

May 20 • Teiva Harsanyi

Cache Use Cases Explained

The cache didn't change. The code didn't change. The system grew around the cache, and the cache quietly became load-bearing.

May 6 • Teiva Harsanyi

Systems Thinking Explained

Your system isn't broken because of bad engineering. It's broken because you're reacting to events without seeing the structure that produces them.

Apr 22 • Teiva Harsanyi

Working on Complex Systems

My Talk at the Monster SCALE Summit 2026

Mar 24 • Teiva Harsanyi

Build Your Own Key-Value Storage Engine—Week 8

Mar 11 • Teiva Harsanyi

Build Your Own Key-Value Storage Engine—Week 7

Block-Based SSTables and Indexing

Feb 26 • Teiva Harsanyi

Build Your Own Key-Value Storage Engine—Week 6

Block-Based SSTables and Indexing

Jan 21 • Teiva Harsanyi

Build Your Own Key-Value Storage Engine—Week 5

Leveling and Key-Range Partitioning

Jan 14 • Teiva Harsanyi

Build Your Own Key-Value Storage Engine—Week 4

Deletes, Tombstones, and Compaction

Dec 17, 2025 • Teiva Harsanyi

Build Your Own Key-Value Storage Engine—Week 3

Durability with Write-Ahead Logging

Dec 3, 2025 • Teiva Harsanyi

Build Your Own Key-Value Storage Engine—Week 2

LSM Tree Foundations

Nov 19, 2025 • Teiva Harsanyi

Build Your Own Key-Value Storage Engine—Week 1

In-Memory Store

Nov 5, 2025 • Teiva Harsanyi

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