In the internet’s early days, blogging was straightforward. A server with PHP and MySQL allowed you to share your thoughts globally. Even FTP access with an index.html file sufficed.
However, as the web evolved, so did blogging requirements. Non-programmers needed user-friendly web interfaces, faster loading times, and seamless daily publishing. Platforms like Reddit, WordPress, and Tumblr emerged, but they faced a common issue: website ownership.
In the first part of You don't know Redis, I built an app using Redis as a primary database. For most people, it might sound unusual simply because the key-value data structure seems suboptimal for handling complex data models.
In practice, the choice of a database often depends on the application’s data-access patterns as well as the current and possible future requirements.
Redis was a perfect database for a Q&A board. I described how I took advantage of sorted sets and hashes data types to build features efficiently with less code.
Now I need to extend the Q&A board with registration/login functionality.
I will use Redis again. There are two reasons for that.
Firstly, I want to avoid the extra complexity that comes with adding yet another database.
Secondly, based on the requirements that I have, Redis is suitable for the task.
Important to note, that user registration and login is not always about only email and password handling. Users may have a lot of relations with other data which can grow complex over time.
Despite Redis being suitable for my task, it may not be a good choice for other projects.
Always define what data structure you need now and may need in the future to pick the right database.
Originally posted on DEV.to
In my previous post, I touched on the point that Redis is more than just an in-memory cache.
Most people do not even consider Redis as a primary database. There are a lot of use cases where Redis is a perfect choice for non-cache related tasks.
In this article, I will demonstrate how I built a fully functional Q&A board for asking and upvoting the most interesting questions. Redis will be used as a primary database.
I will use Gatsby (React), Netlify serverless functions and Upstash Serverless Redis.
Upstash has been a good choice so far and I decided to try it out in a more serious project. I love everything serverless and how it makes things simpler for me.
Serverless will be a great choice for most tasks however you need to know the pros and cons of the tech you are using. I encourage you to learn more about serverless to get the most out of it.
