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Tag: design

How to get started with infrastructure and distributed systems

Most of us developers have had experience with web or native applications that run on a single computer, but things are a lot different when you need to build a distributed system to synchronize dozens, sometimes hundreds of computers to work together. I recently received an email from someone asking…

Implementing a Key-Value Store – Part 9: Data Format and Memory Management in KingDB

This is Part 9 of the IKVS series, “Implementing a Key-Value Store”. You can also check the Table of Contents for other parts. In this series of articles, I describe the research and process through which I am implementing a key-value database, which I have named “KingDB”. The source code is available at http://kingdb.org. Please note that you do not need to read the previous parts to be able to follow. The previous parts were mostly exploratory, and starting with Part 8 is perfectly fine.

In this article, I explain how the storage engine of KingDB works, including details about the data format. I also cover how memory management is done through the use of a compaction process.

Implementing a Key-Value Store – Part 8: Architecture of KingDB

This is Part 8 of the IKVS series, “Implementing a Key-Value Store”. You can also check the Table of Contents for other parts. In this series of articles, I describe the research and process through which I am implementing a key-value database, which I have named “KingDB”. The source code is available at http://kingdb.org. Please note that you do not need to read the previous parts to be able to follow. The previous parts were mostly exploratory, and starting with Part 8 is perfectly fine.

In the previous articles, I have laid out the research and discussion around what needs to be considered when implementing a new key-value store. In this article, I will present the architecture of KingDB, the key-value store of this article series that I have finally finished implementing.

Immersive design and the power of visualization

Some websites and web apps are using what I call “immersive design.” I have been researching blogs and magazines in hope for a proper name, and it seems that it is referred as “full-screen background“. I do not like this name because I do not find it descriptive enough. Technically, all backgrounds are filling the full screen, otherwise websites would look like crap. So I had to come up with my own name, immersive design, and a definition for it:

Immersive design is the use of a full-screen background image as the main design feature in a website, with the goal of creating a strong emotional impact on the user.

The term “immersive” puts more weight on the intent rather than the means. A full-screen background image is just a technical detail. The feeling of emotional immersion in the website is the real marketing value.

In this article, I am explaining why I am convinced that immersive design is one of the strongest yet underrated on-line marketing tools. I am also showing a few examples of immersive designs that I have been collecting while surfing the Internet.