How Databases Work

You should be able to explain how a relational database stores and retrieves data, and build a small storage engine from scratch.

Prerequisites

Comfort with one programming language and basic data structures.

Read1-2 hours
Architecture of a Database System
The classic survey paper by Hellerstein, Stonebraker, and Hamilton.
Open resource →
Study3-4 hours
B-Trees and LSM-Trees
Understand the two dominant on-disk indexing structures and their trade-offs.
Check understandingLSM-tree fundamentalsnot taken yet
Build1-2 weeks
Build a persistent key-value store
A bounded first Build: implement a log-structured store with an in-memory index.
Checkpoint2-3 hours
Explain your storage engine to someone else
Write a short Note comparing your design to an LSM-tree.