When optimizing - don't forget the Java Virtual Machine (JVM)

Recently, I was working on a project that was coming to a close. It was related to optimizing a database using a Java based in-memory cache to reduce the load. The application had to process up to a million objects per day and was characterized by its heavy use of memory and the high number of read, write and update operations. These operations were found to be the most costly, which meant that optimization efforts were concentrated here.

The project had already achieved impressive performance increases, but one question remained unanswered - would changing the JVM increase performance?

Read more at: http://bigdatamatters.com/bigdatamatters/2009/08/jvm-performance.html

QCon London 2009: Upgrading Twitter without service disruptions

Evan Weaver from Twitter presented a talk on Twitter software upgrades, titled Improving running components as part of the Systems that never stop track at QCon London 2009 conference last Friday. The talk focused on several upgrades performed since last May, while Twitter was experiencing serious performance problems.

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