<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>Ravi Utsav — Essays, Notes &amp; Writing</title><description>A personal corner of the internet for essays, technical notes, and reflections on building enduring software and thoughtful living.</description><link>https://raviutsav.github.io/</link><language>en-us</language><item><title>Database Indexes: Understanding Joins - Part 3</title><link>https://raviutsav.github.io/writing/database-indexes-joins-part-3/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://raviutsav.github.io/writing/database-indexes-joins-part-3/</guid><description>A first-principles look at how databases join tables, and how nested loop, hash, and merge joins use indexes and sorted data to get the job done.</description><pubDate>Thu, 12 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Databases</category><category>Backend Engineering</category><category>SQL</category></item><item><title>Database Indexes: Query Plans and Statistics - Part 2</title><link>https://raviutsav.github.io/writing/database-indexes-query-plans-statistics-part-2/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://raviutsav.github.io/writing/database-indexes-query-plans-statistics-part-2/</guid><description>Understanding how databases choose between index seeks and table scans, how statistics influence query execution plans, and why cached plans can sometimes go wrong.</description><pubDate>Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Databases</category><category>Backend Engineering</category><category>SQL</category></item><item><title>So You Think You Understand Database Indexes? Part 1</title><link>https://raviutsav.github.io/writing/database-indexes-first-principles-part-1/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://raviutsav.github.io/writing/database-indexes-first-principles-part-1/</guid><description>A first-principles look at database pages, B+ trees, clustered and nonclustered indexes, key lookups, and why an index seek is not always faster than a scan.</description><pubDate>Sat, 24 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Databases</category><category>Backend Engineering</category><category>SQL</category></item></channel></rss>