A qualified introduction to Redis

Li Zihua’s introduction to Redis (2nd edition) is a qualified introduction to Redis. According to douban’s rating rules, I give this book a rating of 4 stars on Douban. Of course, this score is for the “getting started” level.

This is a Redis guide to getting started. Although the book’s summary states:

The book is aimed not only at new Redis readers, but also at those who already know how to use Redis.

I don’t know for what purpose the latter part of the sentence was written, but after reading this book, I can say that the latter part of the sentence is completely misleading. This thin book, just a guide to Redis, has mastered the use of Redis, there is no need to learn Redis through this book. This book introduces the installation of Redis, 5 data types and common commands to operate these data types, the implementation of common operations (such as: transaction, expiration time, sorting, message notification, pipeline, etc.), scripting, persistence, clustering. This book can be said to contain most of the content of Redis, for beginners, this book can be used as a map, beginners follow this map, can enter the world of Redis. Of course, the book is not in-depth. Why not? For example, the introduction of data types is not analyzed at the source level.

This is a qualified primer. Here I want to emphasize the word “qualified”. Although it is an introductory book, the explanation of the point is clear and logical — that is, what it is, why it is used and when it appeared. What are Lua scripts? Why do you use Lua scripts? When did they come into being? Here’s how the authors explain it:

Redis introduced scripting in version 2.6, which allows developers to write scripts in Lua and upload them to Redis to execute…… The benefits of using scripts are as follows:

(1) Reduce network overhead……

(2) Atomic operation……

(3) reuse……

From the author’s explanation, we can see that the author has a thorough understanding of Redis. At the same time, the author’s explanation also makes readers better understand “Lua script”. We learn a knowledge point is not only know how to operate, it is more important to know what it is, how to come, only in this way we can better understand this knowledge point, remember this knowledge point, reasonable use of this knowledge point. So in that sense, I think it’s a good book.

On the question of being “out of date”. What I bought is the 2nd edition in May 2015 (the 20th edition in Hebei in March 2020). I am writing this reading on May 16, 2021. So some things are “out of date,” like the HMSET command on page 34, which is no longer recommended; For example, the new data type HyperLogLogs is not introduced…… Due to the limitation of time and the development of Redis, this is inevitable. However, this book narrates the contents of the book well, so it is a good book in my opinion. All things are difficult before they are easy, and even now, in 2021, six years after the book was first published, I find it a perfect guide for beginners who have had no experience with Redis at all. For those who have already mastered the usage of Redis, I don’t think it is necessary to use this book as a Redis study material at all.

Reference [1] Douban, Redis Guide to Getting Started (2nd edition)