Build Your Own Database from Scratch

build-your-own.org

49 points·ibobev··5 comments

Can we stop spamming this website here on HN for a bit please? I see three links to this domain on HN currently, all for different things. Yeah it's great to build your tools and showcase the process; don't need 3-4 articles of it at the same time.

Why?

> Databases are not black boxes. Understand them by building your own from scratch!

This is bad advice and not a good use of time. Skimming it could be useful for beginners. Learning a toy implementation isn't going to tell you how to work around the quirks of the db you're using in production. Better to read up about the particular one you use. There are good real books on them that goes into much more detail without spending time typing-in a tutorial.

If on the other hand, you want to scratch an itch and try making one, then by all means go for it.

I disagree with the premise that building your own is a poor way to learn operational concepts.

The experience of building a toy db created a schema onto which a lot of my on-the-job learning required.

For me, reading about B+ trees and figuring out how many db-pages get touched in an operation was enough without having to write any implementations myself. For others it could solidify understanding. If your db uses LSM Trees then characteristics are different again, so YMMV.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com