How PostGIS Finds Your Nearest Neighbor (Without Scanning Every Row)
Finding the nearest X is easy to ask for. Getting it right at scale is another matter.
Data Engineering
Getting Started with pgRouting: Shortest Paths in PostgreSQL
If your application needs to answer “what is the fastest route between two points,” you might reach for an external routing API like Mapbox Directions. But if your spatial data is already stored in PostgreSQL, the Postgres extension pgRouting lets you run graph-based routing queries right where the data is.
Handling Reserved Keywords in DSBulk for Seamless Data Migration
How to handle reserved keywords using Datastax DSBulk in YugabyteDB migration
Migrating to YugabyteDB offers significant advantages in terms of high availability, global distribution, and horizontal scalability—features essential for managing modern database workloads. However, data migration can be a complex process, particularly when transforming your schema definition. Differences in datatype support, query syntax, and core features across systems can complicate the transformation.
Graph Search on Your Floor: How Robot Vacuums Use Pathfinding Algorithms
I have been writing about shortest-path algorithms and A* heuristics in the context of road networks and pgRouting. But the same graph search concepts show up in a device that millions of people own and never think twice about: the robot vacuum.
Code as Instructional Technology
Writing an interactive command-line tool as a learning tool for YugabyteDB REST APIs
I’ve had the chance to share my database expertise in a variety of venues: speaking at meetups and conferences, leading hands-on workshops, mentoring new technologists, and of course writing.
PostGIS Geography vs. Geometry: Choosing the Right Type for Your Spatial Data
If you’ve ever installed PostGIS and opened the documentation, you’ve run into the type decision right away: geometry or geography? They look similar, they both store spatial coordinates, and they share many function names. The difference matters more than it first appears. Choosing the wrong one leads to silently incorrect distance calculations.
Count Large Partitions in YCQL
Counting large partitions in the YugabyteDB Cassandra API
One thing that can really wreck your performance in Cassandra and the similar YugabyteDB YCQL is large partitions due to an imbalanced key. Without the robust nodetool commands of Cassandra, it can be challenging to find these large partitions in YugabyteDB.
Database transformation from SQL Server to YugabyteDB
Migrating data from SQL Server to YugabyteDB
A database transformation and migration project takes solid planning and testing. I’ve found that three common changes required when transforming a SQL Server database to YugabyteDB YSQL are related to syntax, performance, and stored procedures. These will get you started on your transformation project.
Correct Partition Endpoints
Using the correct endpoints in YugabyteDB database partitioning
I was recently reviewing a database partitioning definition in YugabyteDB (the postgres “ysql” API), and realized the partition distribution might not be what the developer intended.
Why You Need a Default Partition
Required default partitions to avoid lost data in Postgres and YugabyteDB
Postgres and YugabyteDB allow you to define partitions of parent tables. Partitions are useful in at least two ways: