Computer Science vs Software Engineering

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Computer Science vs Software Engineering Mike Perham Contributed Systems

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A Tale of Locking and Giving Advice

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@mperham: "Check out my locking API using Redis"

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Context • He's both right and wrong. • What are you optimizing for?

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Computer Science • Formal Correctness • Algorithmic Complexity • Black and White

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Software Engineering • Welcome to the Real World™ • Cost of: • Maintenance • Operations • Getting Started • Performance, scalability, stability

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Zookeeper • Pros • Formally correct Paxos consensus algorithm • Distributed, so 100% uptime (theoretically!)

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Redis • Pros • Easy to get started • Fast and ﬂexible • Widely available as SaaS • Cheap to operate

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Zookeeper • Cons • More $$$ to operate • Minimum of 3 servers • No SaaS

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Tony's View • Square • Deals with lots of $$$$$ • 100% uptime critical • JVM a positive • Already have a big, experienced ops team • "Use Zookeeper"

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Mike's View • Sidekiq • Customers are from 1- to 1000-person companies • JVM can be unwelcome to some Rubyists • Many customers == NoOps • Higher operational costs == unhappy customers

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Reality • No one is forced to use any API* • App developers decide what's important to them • Context is key

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Pro Tips • Advice isn't helpful without considering context • Empathy improves your advice and makes you a better engineer

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mperham {gmail,twitter,github}