About

My name is Brandur Leach (@brandur). I'm an engineer at Stripe, and am interested in service engineering, APIs, Vim, Tmux, Ruby, Go, terminal productivity, running, fixed gear riding, history, urban design, and metal.

Articles

• The Accidental Evangelist

  Lets talk about the bad aspects of the technology we use as well as the good. Better information will lead to better decisions in the next generation of technical architecture.

• A Comparison of Advanced, Modern Cloud Databases

  A non-exhaustive primer of modern cloud database solutions like Aurora, Cosmos, and Spanner.

• Building Robust Systems With ACID and Constraints

  On ensuring system integrity, operability, and correctness through a solid foundational database, and how ACID transactions and strong constraints work in your favor. Why to prefer Postgres over MongoDB.

• In Pursuit of Production Minimalism

  Practicing minimalism with the lofty goal of total ephemeralization to build coherent, stable, and operable stacks.

• Is GraphQL the Next Frontier for Web APIs?

  Musings on the next API technology, and whether REST-ish JSON over HTTP is just "good enough" to never be displaced in a significant way.

Older articles are available here.

Fragments

• Headspace

  A month of meditating and reclaiming head space. May 27, 2017

• The Long Road to Mongo's Durability

  A data store's journey from data loss to durable storage. May 7, 2017

• All Wires

  On removing moving parts in my home media setup. May 3, 2017

• Partitioning In MongoDB (or Lack Thereof)

  A day in trench life. April 28, 2017

• GraphQL APIs and Performace

  Dispelling the common misconception that GraphQL APIs are inherently non-performant. April 25, 2017

Older fragments are available here.