[Note: this is the Redis manifesto, for general information about

installing and running Redis read the README file instead.]

Redis Manifesto

===============

1 - A DSL for Abstract Data Types. Redis is a DSL (Domain Specific Language)

that manipulates abstract data types and implemented as a TCP daemon.

Commands manipulate a key space where keys are binary-safe strings and

values are different kinds of abstract data types. Every data type

represents an abstract version of a fundamental data structure. For instance

Redis Lists are an abstract representation of linked lists. In Redis, the

essence of a data type isn't just the kind of operations that the data types

support, but also the space and time complexity of the data type and the

operations performed upon it.

2 - Memory storage is #1. The Redis data set, composed of defined key-value

pairs, is primarily stored in the computer's memory. The amount of memory in

all kinds of computers, including entry-level servers, is increasing

significantly each year. Memory is fast, and allows Redis to have very

predictable performance. Datasets composed of 10k or 40 millions keys will

perform similarly. Complex data types like Redis Sorted Sets are easy to

implement and manipulate in memory with good performance, making Redis very

simple. Redis will continue to explore alternative options (where data can

be optionally stored on disk, say) but the main goal of the project remains

the development of an in-memory database.

3 - Fundamental data structures for a fundamental API. The Redis API is a direct

consequence of fundamental data structures. APIs can often be arbitrary but

not an API that resembles the nature of fundamental data structures. If we

ever meet intelligent life forms from another part of the universe, they'll

likely know, understand and recognize the same basic data structures we have

in our computer science books. Redis will avoid intermediate layers in API,

so that the complexity is obvious and more complex operations can be

performed as the sum of the basic operations.

4 - We believe in code efficiency. Computers get faster and faster, yet we

believe that abusing computing capabilities is not wise: the amount of

operations you can do for a given amount of energy remains anyway a

significant parameter: it allows to do more with less computers and, at

the same time, having a smaller environmental impact. Similarly Redis is

able to "scale down" to smaller devices. It is perfectly usable in a

Raspberry Pi and other small ARM based computers. Faster code having

just the layers of abstractions that are really needed will also result,

often, in more predictable performances. We think likewise about memory

usage, one of the fundamental goals of the Redis project is to

incrementally build more and more memory efficient data structures, so that

problems that were not approachable in RAM in the past will be perfectly

fine to handle in the future.

5 - Code is like a poem; it's not just something we write to reach some

practical result. Sometimes people that are far from the Redis philosophy

suggest using other code written by other authors (frequently in other

languages) in order to implement something Redis currently lacks. But to us

this is like if Shakespeare decided to end Enrico IV using the Paradiso from

the Divina Commedia. Is using any external code a bad idea? Not at all. Like

in "One Thousand and One Nights" smaller self contained stories are embedded

in a bigger story, we'll be happy to use beautiful self contained libraries

when needed. At the same time, when writing the Redis story we're trying to

write smaller stories that will fit in to other code.

6 - We're against complexity. We believe designing systems is a fight against

complexity. We'll accept to fight the complexity when it's worthwhile but

we'll try hard to recognize when a small feature is not worth 1000s of lines

of code. Most of the time the best way to fight complexity is by not

creating it at all. Complexity is also a form of lock-in: code that is

very hard to understand cannot be modified by users in an independent way

regardless of the license. One of the main Redis goals is to remain

understandable, enough for a single programmer to have a clear idea of how

it works in detail just reading the source code for a couple of weeks.

7 - Threading is not a silver bullet. Instead of making Redis threaded we

believe on the idea of an efficient (mostly) single threaded Redis core.

Multiple of such cores, that may run in the same computer or may run

in multiple computers, are abstracted away as a single big system by

higher order protocols and features: Redis Cluster and the upcoming

Redis Proxy are our main goals. A shared nothing approach is not just

much simpler (see the previous point in this document), is also optimal

in NUMA systems. In the specific case of Redis it allows for each instance

to have a more limited amount of data, making the Redis persist-by-fork

approach more sounding. In the future we may explore parallelism only for

I/O, which is the low hanging fruit: minimal complexity could provide an

improved single process experience.

8 - Two levels of API. The Redis API has two levels: 1) a subset of the API fits

naturally into a distributed version of Redis and 2) a more complex API that

supports multi-key operations. Both are useful if used judiciously but

there's no way to make the more complex multi-keys API distributed in an

opaque way without violating our other principles. We don't want to provide

the illusion of something that will work magically when actually it can't in

all cases. Instead we'll provide commands to quickly migrate keys from one

instance to another to perform multi-key operations and expose the

trade-offs to the user.

9 - We optimize for joy. We believe writing code is a lot of hard work, and the

only way it can be worth is by enjoying it. When there is no longer joy in

writing code, the best thing to do is stop. To prevent this, we'll avoid

taking paths that will make Redis less of a joy to develop.

10 - All the above points are put together in what we call opportunistic

programming: trying to get the most for the user with minimal increases

in complexity (hanging fruits). Solve 95% of the problem with 5% of the

code when it is acceptable. Avoid a fixed schedule but follow the flow of

user requests, inspiration, Redis internal readiness for certain features

(sometimes many past changes reach a critical point making a previously

complex feature very easy to obtain).