A. Jesse Jiryu Davis is a Senior Staff Research Engineer at MongoDB specializing in distributed systems, Python concurrency, and serverless architecture. He contributes to MongoDB drivers, async frameworks, and writes on software design and open source projects.
42 articles from this blog
A computer scientist explains how large language models (LLMs) work, tracing their history from the Turing Test and ELIZA to modern AI, demystifying their operation.
Explores the impossibility of achieving common knowledge for coordinated attack in asynchronous distributed systems, based on Halpern and Moses' 1990 paper.
A critical review of a research paper proposing Raft optimizations for faster reads/writes while preserving linearizability in distributed systems.
Argues that YCSB and TPC benchmarks are flawed because they use closed-loop models, and advocates for open-loop benchmarks to better simulate real-world cloud database workloads.
Introducing LeaseGuard, a new lease protocol for Raft consensus that simplifies leader leases and enables faster crash recovery.
A guide to efficiently writing a Related Work section using Zotero and Overleaf, including tips for finding papers and managing citations.
A senior engineer shares his experience learning to code effectively with AI, from initial frustration to successful 'vibe-coding'.
A developer shares a personal productivity hack: using a browser bookmarks folder to aggregate and manage all their online feeds and sites.
A developer details their technical setup for displaying math and images across a blog, Atom feed, and email using Hugo and custom templates.
Explores the 'coordinated attack' problem in distributed systems, linking it to the impossibility of achieving common knowledge in asynchronous environments.
Explores the concepts of knowledge and common knowledge in distributed systems, starting with the classic muddy children puzzle.
Using a SAT solver and Python to automate the complex scheduling of student-teacher interviews at a Zen meditation retreat.
A personal journey from aspiring dancer to Python programmer and eventually a distributed systems researcher, detailing career transitions and technical growth.
A developer automates and deduplicates Google Scholar email alerts using a custom Google Apps Script to manage research papers efficiently.
Explores the reliability of timers in distributed algorithms like Raft, arguing they are viable with safety margins for mechanisms like leader leases.
MongoDB engineers explain how they test their distributed system implementations against formal TLA+ specifications to ensure correctness.
A retrospective on MongoDB's partnership with NYC public schools to teach computer science, examining the challenges and partial successes of the program.
MongoDB's initiative to support computer science education in NYC public schools through teacher fellowships and curriculum development.
A MongoDB engineer shares notes from the Antithesis BugBash conference, focusing on software correctness, autonomous testing, and related talks.
Explores extending TLA+ for performance modeling using queueing theory and simulation, moving beyond just correctness verification.
