Avi Kivity at Core C++ 2019

At the Core C++ 2019 conference, ScyllaDB's CTO, Avi Kivity, presented on the Seastar framework, which optimizes multi-core processing by leveraging asynchronous communications, contrasting it with traditional, synchronous methods that can lead to inefficiencies such as high latency and low CPU utilization. Kivity highlighted the inefficiencies in treating modern hardware like SSDs and multi-core CPUs as synchronous devices, advocating for an asynchronous approach that the Seastar framework employs. This model allows for one thread per core, enhancing performance and avoiding costly locking mechanisms by partitioning tasks across logical cores, or shards, and using a task scheduler. Seastar’s architecture, which integrates seamlessly with C++14 to C++20, enables applications like ScyllaDB to outperform traditional systems like Apache Cassandra by reducing latency and improving throughput. The framework’s design, which includes futures, promises, and continuations, allows for composable APIs that facilitate efficient handling of asynchronous operations, making it well-suited for developing distributed applications. The presentation was part of a broader discussion at the Seastar Summit 2019, where various developers shared insights on leveraging Seastar for building robust, asynchronous applications.