Overview
What this challenge is about.
Implement the engine in Rust. Components: WAL, memtable (skip list), SSTables on disk with bloom filters and sparse index, two compaction strategies (size-tiered, leveled). Cover crash recovery via WAL replay. Benchmark on YCSB-A (50/50 read/write), YCSB-B (95/5), and a write-heavy custom workload. Measure write amplification, read p50/p99, and space amplification. Deliver source, a 10-page design report comparing the two compaction strategies, and a Jupyter notebook reproducing the benchmark figures.
The Brief
What you'll do, and what you'll demonstrate.
Implement a teaching-grade LSM-tree storage engine in Rust with pluggable compaction strategies and benchmark them on YCSB-shaped workloads.
Earning criteria — what you'll demonstrate
- Implement an LSM-tree end-to-end: WAL, memtable, SSTable, compaction
- Reason about write amplification, read amplification, space amplification
- Compare compaction strategies on workload-realistic benchmarks
- Document a research artifact for reproducibility
Program Fit
Where this fits in your program.
Sharpens the same skills your degree expects you to demonstrate.
Skills
Skills you'll demonstrate.
Each one shows up on your verified credential.
Careers
Roles this prepares you for.
Real titles. Real skill bridges. Pick the one closest to your trajectory.
Career mappings coming soon.