All streams

In an era dominated by high-level abstractions and a focus on rapid development, the C programming language seems like a relic to many — an "outdated" tool with manual memory management and "dangerous" pointers. But what if these are its greatest strengths?

Maxim Orlov, a programmer at Postgres Professional with 22 years of experience, argues that C is not about quick wins and fast prototypes, but about fundamental control and a deep, philosophical understanding of how computers work. Join us for a journey from an initial frustration with Pascal to a profound appreciation for C, and learn why this "bastion of calm" is more relevant than ever.

One of the open challenges in the database world is keeping a database consistent across multiple DBMS instances (nodes) that independently handle client connections. The crux of the issue is ensuring that if one node fails, the others keep running smoothly — accepting connections, committing transactions, and maintaining consistency without a hitch. Think of it like a single DBMS instance staying operational despite a faulty RAM stick or intermittent access to multiple CPU cores.

My name is Andrey Lepikhov, and I’d like to kick off a discussion about the multi-master concept in PostgreSQL: its practical value, feasibility, and the tech stack needed to make it happen. By framing the problem more narrowly, we might find a solution that’s genuinely useful for the industry.