Redis: the AK-47 of databases • Hacker News Board

Re: Redis: the AK-47 of databases

#41

Post by tvon » Fri, Jan 28, 2011, 6:43 PM UTC

bioh42_2 wrote: post #39

Luc wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, have I got the definite resource for you! http://www.imfdb.org/index.php/Lord_of_War "According to Director Andrew Niccol in the DVD commentary, the guns were real guns rented from a real arms dealer, as it was cheaper for the production to rent 3,000 real guns than to rent 3,000 blank converted props. "

Didn't Brandon Lee die because someone mistook a real gun and bullets for prop ones?

Not quite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Lee#Death

> (...) behind schedule (...) they decided to make dummy cartridges from real cartridges by pulling out the bullets, dumping out the propellant and reinserting the bullets. However, the team neglected to remove the primers, which, if fired, could still produce just enough force to push the bullet out of the cartridge and into the barrel. At some point prior to the fatal scene, the live primer in one of the improperly constructed dummy rounds was discharged by an unknown person while in the pistol, leaving the bullet stuck in the barrel.

> (...) the same gun was later reloaded with blank cartridges and used in the scene in which Lee was shot. When the first blank cartridge was fired, the stuck bullet was propelled out of the barrel and struck Lee in the abdomen, lodging in his spine.

Re: Redis: the AK-47 of databases

#42

Post by techiferous » Fri, Jan 28, 2011, 6:50 PM UTC

apl wrote: post #33

> In the spirit of full disclosure, I’m a newb to Redis. My > knowledge is basically the contents of this post (at the > time of writing). I don’t use it in production (yet). > Likewise I’m no expert in AK-47s (I’ve never even fired > one) or guns in general. I’m aware via notoriety alone. Fantastic quote. So you're hardly familiar with either component of your simile, but you'll post it anyway? I really don't expect…

Consider the blog post a conversation starter. You don't have to be an expert in a topic before you can start a useful online discussion about it.

Re: Redis: the AK-47 of databases

#43

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jan 28, 2011, 6:56 PM UTC

jamesli wrote: post #16

The author needs to know more about databases before claiming something is the AK-47 of the subject. It kinds of reminds me of those guys who think they are gurus just because they know some rarely used Linux commands, while in fact they don't have good understanding of OS. :)

[deleted]

Re: Redis: the AK-47 of databases

#44

Post by antirez » Fri, Jan 28, 2011, 7:01 PM UTC

IgorPartola wrote: post #29

antirez wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MULTI/EXEC is completely atomic and transactional. You can perform just writes inside the block. If you want atomicity with reads in the middle, you need to use WATCH/MULTI/EXEC that uses an optimistic locking algorithm.

Ah, that makes sense. I imagine allowing atomic reads without WATCH would complicate the code quite a bit.

Indeed, not very Redis-ish :)

With WATCH is very easy. WATCH this keys. Perform your reads. Prepare to write in a transaction. If at least one key was modified in the meantime the transaction will fail.

Re: Redis: the AK-47 of databases

#45

Post by malkia » Fri, Jan 28, 2011, 7:42 PM UTC

I served in the bulgarian army with this weapon, and it was very easy to handle. That's all I can say

But every weapon was a bit off, so you had to get used to it (I guess that might be the same for all weapons).

Re: Redis: the AK-47 of databases

#46

Post by Legion » Fri, Jan 28, 2011, 7:54 PM UTC

kprobst wrote: post #34

keiferski wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Supposedly the Ak 47s used in the film were real, as real Ak 47s are less expensive than fake ones. But I'm not sure where I heard this, or if it's even true.

I think most movies use the Chinese Type 56 assault rifle, which is a Kalashnikov knock-off and is far more common in the US than the real thing. Most people can't tell the difference between the two. BTW, I highly recommend "The Gun" by C.J. Chivers. It's a fascinating historical treatise about this weapon.

How do the Chinese rifles compare? Are they similarly simple & resilient?

Re: Redis: the AK-47 of databases

#47

Post by zach » Fri, Jan 28, 2011, 8:05 PM UTC

apl wrote: post #33

> In the spirit of full disclosure, I’m a newb to Redis. My > knowledge is basically the contents of this post (at the > time of writing). I don’t use it in production (yet). > Likewise I’m no expert in AK-47s (I’ve never even fired > one) or guns in general. I’m aware via notoriety alone. Fantastic quote. So you're hardly familiar with either component of your simile, but you'll post it anyway? I really don't expect…

Yes, bloggers talk about things they just learned about rather than something they're 360-degree experts about.

But that's good. It helps them -- it reinforces their learning and they certainly find out if they got something wrong -- and it helps us -- readers see a lot of articles pop up right when people are interested in and passionate about learning something, rather than months later when they know it all and have moved on.

Early blogging is quick iteration of knowledge. Blog about something you learned today, not years ago.

Re: Redis: the AK-47 of databases

#48

Post by iujyhgftrgh » Fri, Jan 28, 2011, 8:32 PM UTC

Duff wrote: post #28

ErrantX wrote: post #10

The title randomly reminded me of the AK-47 quote from Lord of War (an actually decent Cage film, and definitely a good bit of monologue): Of all the weapons in the vast soviet arsenal, nothing was more profitable than Avtomat Kalashnikova model of 1947. More commonly known as the AK-47, or Kalashnikov. It's the world's most popular assault rifle. A weapon all fighters love. An elegantly simple 9 pound amalgamation o…

I doubt the actual weapon was profitable. They literally made like 75 million of the things. The Soviets may have made a few bucks setting up factories in the 3rd world for licensed production.

Colonel Kalashnikov was paid by a west german company that owned the marketing rights to the name - I think they made aftershave!

Re: Redis: the AK-47 of databases

#49

Post by iujyhgftrgh » Fri, Jan 28, 2011, 8:33 PM UTC

zeteo wrote: post #35

"According to AK-47 legend, assault rifles were not popular because of their tendency to consume large amounts of ammo. The Soviets embraced the idea and simply supplied their troops with more ammo. Kinda like Redis and RAM." That's obviously just a legend. This debate was actually carried out in the 2nd half of the 19th century, starting with the Civil War. (Many repeating rifle designs were offered to the Union. Qu…

The British army only just relented - the new SA80 is the first fully automatic rifle to be standard issue.

Re: Redis: the AK-47 of databases

#50

Post by kprobst » Fri, Jan 28, 2011, 8:52 PM UTC

Legion wrote: post #46

kprobst wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most movies use the Chinese Type 56 assault rifle, which is a Kalashnikov knock-off and is far more common in the US than the real thing. Most people can't tell the difference between the two. BTW, I highly recommend "The Gun" by C.J. Chivers. It's a fascinating historical treatise about this weapon.

How do the Chinese rifles compare? Are they similarly simple & resilient?

Yeah, pretty much. It's an extremely simple (albeit clever) design so there's only so much you can get wrong when you're copying it. Note that the Type 56 like most other AK knock-offs are really copies of the later AKM "improved" model, which was cheaper to manufacture. So comparing it to the original AK-47 is probably not fair. Then again there aren't many copies of the original model around anymore.