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I thought the name was weird and found this: The name was chosen in 2012, two years before the open source project was started. I had just gotten done with an
by kevindqc 9y ago
I thought the name was weird and found this:
The name was chosen in 2012, two years before the open source project was started. I had just gotten done with an exhausting and ultimately frustrating survey of OSS database products for the backend of a new private photo sharing service called Viewfinder. I'd tried and found wanting MySQL, Postgres, AWS SimpleDB, Hbase, Cassandra, and Riak.
I was annoyed. Why wasn't there a scalable, survivable, consistent database with transactions? I was even willing to drop transactions as a requirement – a terrible sacrifice. The frustration led me to write a manifesto. What would the "right" database look like?
I imagined it would be composed of symmetric nodes, require no external dependencies, spread itself naturally across availability zones for survival. Each node would autonomously replicate and repair data. These were the capabilities that led me to the name "cockroach", because they'll colonize the available resources and are nearly impossible to kill.
- Spencer Kimball
- mynameishere 9y agoThe unkillability of cockroaches is highly exaggerated. And for dogged persistence, I'd give the crown to the humble fruit fly.
- jaequery 9y agosounds to me like the blockchain before blockchain. i personally feel blockchain hasnt lived up to its potential because it cant yet act as a viable database. i am curious to see who would take that throne . potentially cockroachdb seem to be in a good spot for that with some adjustments.
- lotyrin 9y agoIt wasn't before blockchain. Not everything distributed and fault tolerant is blockchain. You can't sprinkle blockchain fairy dust on problems unless your problems are insufficient hype.
- hashkb 9y agoCan mods just delete comments about the name of this project? It's getting absurd.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- rjpr 9y agoOne could argue that if the creators didn't want a constant discussion around the name every time they tried to promote it, they would have chosen a better name. I don't think we should be censoring a discussion just because you've already had that particular discussion.
- Quarrelsome 9y agothe name is apt though. Your data IS the cockroach. You can't kill it and it replicates easily. I guess they could have called it cancer instead? ;)
- erikpukinskis 9y agoIt’s an insult to roaches to liken them to cancer. They’re not particularly destructive. Termites are more like cancer.
- Gigablah 9y agoI think it’s a brilliant decision. It serves as bait to separate the vapid, superficial commenters from those who are actually interested in the technology.
- zzzcpan 9y agoAccidentally genius marketing. Obviously they didn't anticipate constant naming discussions.
- menacingly 9y agoI'd bet good folding money that they change it at a certain growth point, and I'll take it as a good sign when they do.
- arbitrage 9y agoCockroaches are actually very easy to kill/exterminate, if you do your research. Their dogged replication and consumption strategy is their Achilles' Heel.