ACID vs BASE: Understanding Database Consistency Models

# ACID Atomicity - Money transfer

# WITHOUT atomicity (BAD)
def transfer_bad(from_account, to_account, amount):
    # Step 1: Withdraw
    withdraw(from_account, amount)
    
    # If this fails, money disappears!
    # Step 2: Deposit
    deposit(to_account, amount)

# WITH atomicity (GOOD)
def transfer_atomic(from_account, to_account, amount):
    with transaction:  # All or nothing
        withdraw(from_account, amount)
        deposit(to_account, amount)
    # Either both succeed or both fail

# Different isolation levels

isolation_levels = {
    "READ_UNCOMMITTED": {
        "description": "Can read uncommitted data",
        "problems": "Dirty reads, non-repeatable reads, phantoms",
        "use_when": "Never recommended"
    },
    
    "READ_COMMITTED": {
        "description": "Only read committed data",
        "problems": "Non-repeatable reads, phantoms",
        "use_when": "Most databases default"
    },
    
    "REPEATABLE_READ": {
        "description": "Same query returns same result",
        "problems": "Phantoms",
        "use_when": "Financial transactions"
    },
    
    "SERIALIZABLE": {
        "description": "Transactions appear serial",
        "problems": "None (but slow)",
        "use_when": "Critical data"
    }
}

# SQLAlchemy isolation levels
from sqlalchemy import create_engine

engine = create_engine(
    "postgresql://user:pass@localhost/db",
    isolation_level="SERIALIZABLE"  # Choose level
)

# BASE - Eventual consistency

class EventuallyConsistentDB:
    """
    Write returns immediately, 
    reads may return stale data temporarily
    """
    
    def __init__(self):
        self.primary = {}      # Writer
        self.replicas = []     # Readers
        self.pending_writes = []  # Async replication
    
    def write(self, key, value):
        # Write to primary immediately
        self.primary[key] = value
        
        # Async replicate to replicas
        self.pending_writes.append({
            "key": key,
            "value": value
        })
        
        return "written"  # Returns immediately!
    
    def read(self, key):
        # Can return stale data from replicas
        if self.replicas:
            # Read from nearest replica
            return self.replicas[0].get(key, self.primary.get(key))
        return self.primary.get(key)
    
    def replicate(self):
        """Background replication"""
        while self.pending_writes:
            write = self.pending_writes.pop()
            for replica in self.replicas:
                replica[write["key"]] = write["value"]

# CP Systems (Consistency over Availability)
# Example: ZooKeeper, etcd, HBase

cp_systems = {
    "description": "System becomes unavailable during partition",
    "behavior": "Refuse requests until consistency restored",
    "use_when": "Financial systems, inventory, locking"
}

# AP Systems (Availability over Consistency)
# Example: Cassandra, DynamoDB, CouchDB

ap_systems = {
    "description": "System remains available during partition",
    "behavior": "May return stale data",
    "use_when": "Shopping carts, likes, counters"
}

# CA Systems (impossible in distributed systems)
# Example: Single-node databases
# Only possible without network partitions

# PACELC extends CAP

pacelc = """
Even when there is NO partition:

   E - Else (latency vs consistency)
   L - Latency
   C - Consistency

So it's really: "CAP + Else"
"""

def choose_consistency_model(requirements):
    """Choose between ACID and BASE"""
    
    # Strong consistency needed?
    if requirements.get("strong_consistency"):
        return "ACID"
    
    # Financial/transactional?
    if requirements.get("is_financial"):
        return "ACID"
    
    # High availability needed?
    if requirements.get("availability") == "critical":
        return "BASE"
    
    # Can tolerate eventual consistency?
    if requirements.get("tolerates_stale_data"):
        return "BASE"
    
    # Scale requirements?
    if requirements.get("scale") == "massive":
        return "BASE"
    
    # Default to ACID if unsure
    return "ACID"

# ACID use cases:
- Banking and payments
- Inventory management
- Order processing
- User authentication
- Anything requiring transactions

# BASE use cases:
- Social media feeds
- Analytics and metrics
- Caching layers
- Shopping carts
- Session stores
- IoT data ingestion

# PostgreSQL - Strong ACID
import psycopg2

conn = psycopg2.connect("postgresql://user:pass@localhost/db")
conn.set_session(isolation_level='SERIALIZABLE')

try:
    with conn.cursor() as cur:
        cur.execute("BEGIN")
        cur.execute("UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance - 100 WHERE id = 1")
        cur.execute("UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance + 100 WHERE id = 2")
        cur.execute("COMMIT")
except:
    cur.execute("ROLLBACK")

# MySQL with InnoDB
conn = pymysql.connect(...)
with conn.cursor() as cur:
    cur.execute("SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL SERIALIZABLE")
    cur.execute("START TRANSACTION")
    # operations
    cur.execute("COMMIT")

# Cassandra - AP (Eventual consistency)
from cassandra.cluster import Cluster

cluster = Cluster(['127.0.0.1'])
session = cluster.connect('mykeyspace')

# Write (can specify consistency)
session.execute(
    "INSERT INTO users (id, name) VALUES (%s, %s)",
    [1, "John"]
)  # Returns immediately!

# Read (may get stale data)
result = session.execute("SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = 1")

# DynamoDB - Eventually consistent by default
import boto3

dynamodb = boto3.resource('dynamodb')
table = dynamodb.Table('Users')

# Write
table.put_item(Item={'id': '1', 'name': 'John'})

# Eventually consistent read
response = table.get_item(Key={'id': '1'})

# Strongly consistent read
response = table.get_item(
    Key={'id': '1'},
    ConsistentRead=True
)

# NewSQL - ACID + Scalability
# Examples: CockroachDB, Spanner, YugabyteDB

# CockroachDB - Distributed ACID
import cockroachdb

conn = cockroachdb.connect("postgresql://user@host:26257/db")

# Full ACID transactions across nodes!
with conn.transaction():
    cur.execute("UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance - 100")
    cur.execute("UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance + 100")
    # Atomic across nodes!

# Event Store - Event sourcing with ACID
from eventstore import EventStore

store = EventStore()

# Append events atomically
stream = store.get_stream("orders")
stream.append([
    OrderCreatedEvent(order_id=1),
    PaymentReceivedEvent(amount=100)
])
# All or nothing!

# Ensure you read what you just wrote

class ReadYourOwnWrites:
    """Pattern for BASE systems"""
    
    def __init__(self, db):
        self.db = db
    
    def write_and_read(self, key, value):
        # Write
        self.db.write(key, value)
        
        # Wait for replication
        self.db.wait_for_replication(key, value)
        
        # Now read will return our write
        return self.db.read(key)

# Gradually strengthen consistency

consistency_levels = {
    "eventual": {
        "description": "May return stale data",
        "latency": "Lowest"
    },
    
    "causal": {
        "description": "Respects causality",
        "latency": "Low"
    },
    
    "prefix": {
        "description": "Reads see recent writes",
        "latency": "Medium"
    },
    
    "strong": {
        "description": "Always sees latest",
        "latency": "Highest"
    }
}

# Choose based on use case
def get_consistency_level(operation):
    if operation == "user_profile":
        return "strong"  # User expects to see their changes
    elif operation == "like_count":
        return "eventual"  # Can be slightly stale
    elif operation == "comment_thread":
        return "causal"  # Order matters