Assertions in production? (TigerBeetle Vol. 3) With Alex aka matklad
Topics discussed
Introduction and background on systems programming
Design by Contract vs. Monads and historical context
Assertions as proofs and the limits of type systems
Defining assertions and call-site vs. definition-site checks
Production assertions, side effects, and footguns
Distributed systems, failure modes, and deterministic simulation
Assertion density and layering in complex codebases
Interlocking assertions and tracing logic across functions
Preconditions, postconditions, and language features
Abstraction boundaries, API contracts, and coupling
Safety vs. availability and recovery boundaries
Handling poison pills, upgrades, and release processes
Case study: Catching a cache bug with assertions
Data plane performance and optimizing assertion costs
AI/LLMs in development and final thoughts
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