Paneque's Technology Blog

 …and my database. How many times has something so simple saved the day? Sometimes, the simplest solutions can have a significant impact on a problematic situation. In this blog post, we'll explore one such scenario where a small algorithm change led to substantial performance improvements in an existing system. The problem  The issue at hand involved a component in a system using a database table as a makeshift queue for processing updated rows. Multiple processor instances read from the same table, with Redis locking in place to prevent concurrent processing of the same row. However, the processors working in the same order led to numerous collisions and timeouts, causing the system to slow down.  As illustrated in the image, the processors were interfering with one another; while they ultimately completed the work, excessive time was consumed in fruitless attempts to lock records, which consequently increased the strain on the database. The solution: A Random Iterator ...

A cache is a component where data is stored so that future requests can be served faster. So for example, in the context of a web application responding to multiple requests,  instead of hitting your backend database or microservice every time, the application can remember the last value for a given computation or call. One particular flavor is a centralized cache system, provided by tools like Redis, Memcached, etc. A central place where we store data temporarily and all instances of our app (and even other apps) can use it. There are many uses, from storing session data in a multi-server web application to providing a performance advantage by keeping a value that is costly to calculate or obtain.  A centralized cache is a lifesaver. But it tends to be overused and there are some scenarios where we could reduce its usage or completely skip it, and in doing so, save costs and improve performance.  Reducing the usage of the centralized cache. Let's have an example of a web...

We are going to create a plain HTML+JS static web app with an Azure Function as backend API, and by "plain" I mean no framework like React, Angular, or Vue, but will use Bootstrap and JQuery. It will be a simple app with  2 input fields and 1 button. You will enter your name and last name and the app will say "hello" to Thanos and let you know if Thanos snapped you or not (Because you should not talk to the mad titan without permission). We are going to use ReCaptcha V3 to prevent abuse and a bootstrap form with client-side validation before sending the data back to the azure function. #1 Create the app from Visual Studio Code Let's create a "custom" framework static web app following these instructions , then add a /src folder and place a basic index.html file there with the text "hello world". Just make sure you use /src as "source path" and leave "build path" empty. You can confirm paths are correct by opening the GitHu...