CS3216: Scaling infrastructure for web app deployment

This was one of the most practical and useful lectures I've ever attended. Wow. I immediately downloaded the notes and saved it for reference. Thanks Zit Seng! Really appreciate the effort that you took.

Honestly, I felt like I was attending an engineering lecture on grid optimization. Load balancing/forecasting/filters.. The concepts sound very similar to my FYP.

Zit Seng also pointed out the need for accurate metrics for pinpointing the problem domain area, whether it is in the network, due to the servers or the application running on the client instead. To make his job easier, maybe he could create a web page with a list of software tools. Hence, when people complain, they can give him at least a basic set of data that he can follow up on.

I think a good web developer needs to be aware of the demands of the application on the network and servers. Zit Seng's example of the url with and without the backslash that is a subdirectory without a trailing slash was interesting. I never knew that "http://www.xyz.com/aboutus" needs 2 requests, while 'http://www.xyz.com/aboutus/" requires only 1. I guess I'm more wary of heavy AJAX usage on any page.. (Wave? =) ) (updated as per ZS's feedback=) )

I also think Zit Seng brought out another point about communicating in another person's language. I guess the picture he portrayed of developers being separated as above the OS and below or at the same level of the OS is quite accurate. To be good, one must be able to switch between both groups.

I do admit that the CORS system is more impressive after the lecture =) I wonder why Zit Seng is not working in a startup company or another organisation. Seems like a waste of talent..

Actually, another interesting point that Zit Seng brought up was the revenue model of SoC. Seems rather interesting.. Renting out their rackspace to earn revenue from the other faculties? =) Every faculty needs more computing power than they have, but not everyone needs electron microscopes, C&C machines.. etc. SoC has monopoly power.

I guess for the majority of us, we can happily deploy on Amazon, caring less about these infrastructure problems, thanks to nice people like Zit Seng. =)