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Taming Chaos: Deterministic Simulation Testing for Distributed Systems
Testing distributed systems is notoriously difficult. Concurrency bugs, network partitions, and clock skew often lead to flaky tests and elusive failures that are hard to reproduce. But what if you could replay the chaos on demand? This session explores the principles and implementation of deterministic simulation testing, a technique used by modern distributed systems such as TigerBeetle to uncover deep, hidden bugs.
Attendees will be introduced to TickLoom, a lightweight Java framework that brings deterministic simulation testing to Java developers. The session demonstrates how its single-threaded tick-loop and pluggable fault injection make it possible to systematically build and break distributed systems under controlled conditions. You will also see how TickLoom integrates with the Jepsen framework for consistency checking. Participants will leave with a clear understanding of this testing model and a practical toolset for uncovering critical issues deterministically.
What You Will Learn
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How deterministic simulation testing works and why it is effective for distributed systems
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How to use TickLoom to simulate faults, replay scenarios, and detect hidden concurrency bugs
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How to integrate deterministic testing with Jepsen for consistency verification
Who Should Attend
Distributed systems developers, backend engineers, software testers, and architects interested in improving reliability and reproducibility through advanced testing techniques.
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About the speaker
Unmesh Joshi
Distinguished Engineer, ThoughtWorks
Unmesh is a seasoned technology leader with 24 years of industry experience. As an ardent enthusiast of software architecture, he firmly believes that today's tech landscape requires a profound understanding of distributed systems principles. His years of experience have helped him become proficient in diverse technologies and platforms, including Scala, Akka, Kafka, Cassandra, Kubernetes, Docker and Cloud Services.
Unmesh's book, Patterns of Distributed Systems forms an essential catalog of patterns aimed at enhancing comprehension, communication and education on distributed system design.
