Hello everyone, hope your year is off to a good start! In our resource list today we’ve got some very cool code repository diagrams, sage advice from Pinterest engineers on tuning Flink clusters, and a post on why ZenDesk uses mTLS with Kafka. Our "terminal tip" is Flink-themed this week, with a snippet demonstrating how to fix watermarking issues. You will also find several in-person meetups coming up soon, so if you’re near London, Bangalore, Berlin, Kansas City, or Sunnyvale in the next month or so, stop on by!

Apache Kafka® Resources:

• Visualize the Apache Kafka code repository with a diagram from Amelia Wattenberger!
• Dig into the fundamentals of Kafka internals with this list of the best Kafka Summit talks on the topic from the official Apache Kafka site. Or, get into all the details with Jun Rao’s course.
• Learn why ZenDesk uses mTLS with Kafka from Stanislav Kozlovski’s newsletter.
• Need a resource on Kafka Want to learn more about Kafka? Dive into Peter Moskovits’ curated list of learning resources, complete with sections based on whether you’re beginner, intermediate, or advanced. It’s also organized by resource type! Feel free to contribute yourself.

Apache Flink® Resources:

• This map by Amelia Wattenberger outlines the Apache Flink repository.
• Read Soumil Shah’s post about how to read data from a Kinesis stream locally with the Flink Python client.
• Learn how to tune Flink clusters for availability and scalability from this Pinterest engineering blog post.

Terminal Tip of the Week:

This week’s terminal tip focuses on Flink SQL: if your windows or MATCH_RECOGNIZE queries fail to produce any results, often the root cause is a problem with watermarking. You can use the built-in CURRENT_WATERMARK function to check if watermarks are being generated correctly. E.g., if your time attribute column is named $rowtime:

SELECT ..., $rowtime, CURRENT_WATERMARK($rowtime) FROM table;

Links From Around the Web:

• Witness the results of chatbots attempting to sketch with SVGs
• A list of software folklore through the ages
• A project illustrating Google Maps reviews of bygone restaurants

Upcoming Events:

In-person:

• In-person meetup in Berlin, DE (Jan 30): Apache Kafka® Meetup Berlin - January 2024
• In-person meetup in Sunnyvale, CA (Jan 31): Uber X Apache Flink® Meetup
• In-person meetup in London, UK (Jan 31): OpenLineage x Apache Kafka® Meetup
• In-person meetup in Bangalore, IN (Feb 3): Apache Kafka® Meetup Bangalore- Feb 2024
• In-person meetup in Stockholm, SE (Feb 7th): IN-PERSON: Apache Kafka® Q&A

In-person and online:

• Current 2024 (Sep 17-18): The call for papers for Current 2024 is now open! Submit your abstracts no later than Feb 26. Speaker office hours will be held on the Confluent Community Slack on Feb 7 at 8 a.m. PST and Feb 21 at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. PST.
• Hybrid meetup in Salt Lake City (January 17): Introduction to Apache Kafka + Snowflake optimization Lightning Talk
• Kafka Summit London (March 19-20): Registration for KSL is now open! You can also check out the agenda and speakers for the event.
• Kafka Summit Bangalore (May 2): Registration for KSB is expected to open at the end of January. Stay tuned for Kafka Summit, Bangalore edition!

By the way…

We hope you enjoyed our curated assortment of resources! If you’d like to provide feedback, suggest ideas for content you’d like to see, or you want to submit your own resource for consideration, send us an email at devx_newsletter@confluent.io!

If you’d like to view previous editions of the newsletter, visit our archive.

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P.S. If you want to learn more about Kafka, Flink, or Confluent Cloud, visit our developer site at Confluent Developer.