Build Your Own X From Scratch Books

Learn network programming and data structures by building a Redis-like server from scratch with C/C++.

• Why build Redis? The knowledge required is broader and deeper than usual application-level development. It's a good way to level up your skills (mainly network programming and data structures).
• Why start from scratch? A quote from Richard Feynman: “What I cannot create, I do not understand”. Human understanding is full of holes aka “things I don't know that I don't know”. Building from scratch is one way to ensure that your understanding is complete.
• Why C? C is widely used in system programming and infrastructure software. Learn how C is used in real projects, with simple C code. No prior C/C++ experience is required.
• Why a book? The Redis project is a complex software system built with a lot of effort, which can be hard to grasp for beginners. The book breaks down the core concepts into easily digestible steps.

Databases are not black boxes. Understand them by building your own from scratch!

From B-tree to KV store, then relational DB, in small steps and straightforward Golang code.

Although the book is short and the implementation is minimal, it covers three important topics:

1. Persistence.
   How not to lose or corrupt your data. Recovering from a crash.
2. Indexing.
   Efficiently querying and manipulating of on-disk data. (B-tree).
3. Concurrency.
   How to handle multiple (large number of) clients. And transactions.

Ever wondered how computers turn source code into working software? You can learn the art by building your own mini-compiler.

A succinct book walks through a minimal yet complete compiler implementation. Compiles a static-typed language into x64 ELF executables.

Contents included:

• Simple interpreter. Get your own programming language up and running.
• Bytecode compiler. The next step after the interpreter.
• x64 assembly & instruction encoding. Understand how the machine works.
• Translating bytecode into x64 code. Run your language natively on the machine.
• Generating binary executables. The final step to a working compiler.

5 projects, 5×3 times the fun, in 1 short book.
(Just an outline. Subject to change.)

1. Regular expression engines
   1. Backtracking (beginner)
   2. NFA (intermediate)
   3. DFA (advanced)
2. JSON parser
   1. Recursive descent (beginner)
   2. API design and JSON pointers (intermediate)
   3. JSON without dynamic allocations (advanced)
3. HTTP server
   1. Sockets and protocols (beginner)
   2. Multithreading (intermediate)
   3. The event loop (advanced)
4. High-performance word counter
   1. Buffered IO and parsing (beginner)
   2. Multithreading (intermediate)
   3. SIMD acceleration (advanced)
5. Mini programming language
   1. Expression evaluation (beginner)
   2. Variables, control flows, and functions (intermediate)
   3. Static typing and compiling to x64 (advanced)