Wiki
Engineering fundamentals — the principle underneath, the tools that are just instances of it, and the buzzwords that bury it.
Append-only log
principleAn ordered, immutable sequence you only append to and read by offset. The principle under Kafka, WAL, and event sourcing — they're instances, not the idea.
May 29, 2026
Distributed lock
principleMutual exclusion across processes and servers, not threads in one JVM. The principle under ShedLock, Redlock, and SELECT FOR UPDATE.
May 29, 2026
Engineering Fundamentals — a map of the whole field
mapSoftware engineering isn't one skill — it's ~18 separately-masterable domains across a few bands. Nobody masters all of them; the real shape is T-shaped. A map for orientation, not walls.
Jun 3, 2026
Idempotent
principleApplying an operation N times lands in the same state as applying it once. The principle that makes retries safe — and the truth behind 'exactly-once'.
May 29, 2026
Race condition
principleCorrectness that depends on the uncontrolled interleaving of concurrent operations. The principle under lost updates, double-submits, and TOCTOU.
May 29, 2026