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Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2011 21:13:34 -0400
Message-ID: <AANLkTim2LivLnegA8bU+B-uZU7RM+03B2i7j1AXLwhVV@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Ditching Cassandra
From: Jake Luciani <jakers@gmail.com>
To: user@cassandra.apache.org
Cc: Gregori Schmidt <grokdata@gmail.com>
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Hi Gregori,

What language *were* you using to interact with cassandra? were you unable
to find a wrapper API that you found

We have discussed adopting the "best of" client api's in cassandra but we
decided it's better for the community to naturally develop them.  I think
this has also motivated Eric to develop CQL in response to the folks who
find the thrift api hard to use.

-Jake

On Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 8:11 PM, Gregori Schmidt <grokdata@gmail.com> wrote:

> hi,
>
> After using Cassandra during development for the past 8 months my team and
> I made the decision to switch from Cassandra to MongoDB this morning.  I
> thought I'd share some thoughts on why we did this and where Cassandra might
> benefit from improvement.
>
>    - The API is horrible and it produces pointlessly verbose code in
>    addition to being utterly confusing.  EVERYTHING takes a lot of time to
>    implement with Cassandra, and to be frank, it is incredibly tiring.  For
>    this reason alone I no longer recommend Cassandra.  If you want an example,
>    pick up the O'Reilly book on Cassandra and look through the examples.  Such
>    MASSIVE amounts of code for doing nearly NOTHING.  This is ridiculous.
>     Didn't this strike anyone else as ridiculous?  It should have!
>    - You need to have official client libraries and they need to be
>    programmer friendly.  Yes, I know there are nice people maintaining a
>    plethora of different libraries, but you need to man up and face reality:
>     the chaos that is the Cassandra client space is a horrible mess.
>    - It is buggy and the solution seems to be to just go to the next
>    release.  And the next.  And the next.  Which would be okay if you could
>    upgrade all the time, but what to do once you hit production?
>
> I would recommend that everyone interested in improving Cassandra take the
> day off,  download MongoDB and read
> https://github.com/karlseguin/the-little-mongodb-book . Then, while you
> are downloading, unpacking, looking at what was in the JAR, reading the book
> and pawing through the examples: _pay attention_ to the neatness and the
> effortlessness the ease with which you can use MongoDB.  Then spend the rest
> of the day implementing something on top of it to gain some hacking
> experience.
>
> No, really.  Do it.  This is important.  You need to connect with the user
> and you need to understand what you ought to be aspiring to.
>
> In any case, thanks for all the effort that went into Cassandra.  I will
> check back from time to time and perhaps in a year or so it'll be time to
> re-evaluate Cassandra.
>
> PS: one last thing.  It took us less time to rewrite the DB-interface for
> our system to MongoDB AND port over our data than it took to write the
> Cassandra implementation.
>
> ~G
>


-- 
http://twitter.com/tjake

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Hi Gregori,<div><br></div><div>What language *were* you using to interact w=
ith cassandra? were you unable to find a wrapper API that you found</div><d=
iv><br></div><div>We have discussed adopting the &quot;best of&quot; client=
 api&#39;s in cassandra but we decided it&#39;s better for the community to=
 naturally develop them. =A0I think this has also motivated Eric to develop=
 CQL in response to the folks who find the thrift api hard to use.</div>
<div><br></div><div>-Jake</div><div><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote">On Tue, =
Mar 29, 2011 at 8:11 PM, Gregori Schmidt <span dir=3D"ltr">&lt;<a href=3D"m=
ailto:grokdata@gmail.com">grokdata@gmail.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br><bloc=
kquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #cc=
c solid;padding-left:1ex;">
hi,<div><br></div><div>After using Cassandra during development for the pas=
t 8 months my team and I made the decision=A0to switch from Cassandra to Mo=
ngoDB this morning. =A0I thought I&#39;d share some thoughts on why we=A0di=
d this and where Cassandra might benefit from improvement.</div>

<div><ul><li>The API is horrible and it produces pointlessly verbose code i=
n addition to being utterly confusing. =A0EVERYTHING takes a lot of time to=
 implement with Cassandra, and to be frank, it is incredibly tiring. =A0For=
 this reason alone I no longer recommend Cassandra. =A0If you want an examp=
le, pick up the O&#39;Reilly book on Cassandra and look through the example=
s. =A0Such MASSIVE amounts of code for doing nearly NOTHING. =A0This is rid=
iculous. =A0Didn&#39;t this strike anyone else as ridiculous? =A0It should =
have!</li>

<li>You need to have official client libraries and they need to be programm=
er friendly. =A0Yes, I know there are nice people maintaining a plethora of=
 different libraries, but you need to man up and face reality: =A0the chaos=
 that is the Cassandra client space is a horrible mess.</li>

<li>It is buggy and the solution seems to be to just go to the next release=
. =A0And the next. =A0And the next. =A0Which would be okay if you could upg=
rade all the time, but what to do once you hit production?</li></ul><div>I =
would recommend that everyone interested in improving Cassandra take the da=
y off, =A0download MongoDB and read=A0<a href=3D"https://github.com/karlseg=
uin/the-little-mongodb-book" target=3D"_blank">https://github.com/karlsegui=
n/the-little-mongodb-book</a>=A0. Then, while you are downloading, unpackin=
g, looking at what was in the JAR, reading the book and pawing through the =
examples: _pay attention_ to the neatness and the effortlessness the ease w=
ith which you can use MongoDB. =A0Then spend the rest of the day implementi=
ng something on top of it to gain some hacking experience.</div>

</div><div><br></div><div>No, really. =A0Do it. =A0This is important. =A0Yo=
u need to connect with the user and you need to understand what you ought t=
o be aspiring to.</div><div><br></div><div>In any case, thanks for all the =
effort that went into Cassandra. =A0I will check back from time to time and=
 perhaps in a year or so it&#39;ll be time to re-evaluate Cassandra.</div>

<div><br></div><div>PS: one last thing. =A0It took us less time to rewrite =
the DB-interface for our system to MongoDB AND port over our data than it t=
ook to write the Cassandra implementation.</div><div><br></div><div>~G</div=
>

</blockquote></div><br><br clear=3D"all"><br>-- <br><a href=3D"http://twitt=
er.com/tjake" target=3D"_blank">http://twitter.com/tjake</a><br>
</div>

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