Murat Demirbas (Distributolog)
@muratdemirbas
MongoDB Research: Distributed {Systems, Databases, Consensus} + Formal Methods ex-AWS, ex-Prof @SUNY Buffalo. http://muratbuffalo.blogspot.com Opinions my own
[new blog post] Research, writing, and career advice muratbuffalo.blogspot.com/2020/06/resear…
Hear me out: a YouTube show where two distributed systems experts screen-share and live-annotate new papers + asking questions, + predicting what’s next, + dunking on unclear diagrams, and + geeking out over clever ideas in the paper. basically: Twitch meets SOSP/OSDI
[new blog post] Serializable Isolation for Snapshot Databases muratbuffalo.blogspot.com/2025/07/serial…
Distributed systems is the most fun field of computer science because of the stories behind each concept. That's why I'm launching Distributed Systems Made Simple, a YouTube channel to tell these stories in a fun way while diving deep into the "why". youtube.com/@DSMadeSimple
Interesting changes coming to OSDI! I agree with the ops track and limited submissions. Not sure the varying length thing will work - short papers have not fared well in my experience. Agree with no rebuttals. Not sure how replacing revise and resubmit would work?
I received an email today titled "OSDI '26 Preliminary Call for Papers". Looks like OSDI is adding an Operational Systems track and aiming for a higher acceptance rate (usenix.org/conference/osd…). I hope this will also help expand the scope and include more papers.
Simulating edge conditions: Running #pgbench with added latency to test client/server transaction logic in SQL (business logic in App or DB?) and compare it with @MongoDB document model dev.to/franckpachot/c…
Old debates about relational 3NF are resurfacing. I revisited Codd’s paper to better understand the original goals of normalization, this time considering today’s developer experience and document data modeling linkedin.com/pulse/data-mod…
Software quality isn't a zero sum approach. Layering methods is no longer a nice-to-have but a need-to-have. Proud to be part of MongoDB’s equation, they set a very high bar 🏋️ for themselves, so their customers can receive all the benefit.
A. Jesse Jiryu Davis talks about the moment MongoDB decided to test with Antithesis. The event he's describing happened in 2021, MongoDB is still testing every release with Antithesis today. youtu.be/7nJBpH0aOl0
I heard they did this Bingo card thing in PLDI. Other conferences, please take notice! This is a great way to catalyze hallway conversations.
Whitehead's dictum dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.114…
Hear me out. Conference (or writers retreat) on Amtrak Coast Starlight Train. 36 hours between Seattle and LA. Complete with sleeper cabins. Who is in? amtrak.com/coast-starligh…
A famous professor once told me that students underestimate our work. Students feel that they did all the work during their PhD. What did the professor do? Give advice here and there? What value is that? Professors like other leaders can provide immense value... but it is not…
There’s a cursed C++ competition where programmers try to create the largest possible error message. Finalists created ~1.5GB of error messages from just 256 bytes of source. Preprocessor exploits were so easy, they had to create a separate division! Here's my favorites: