A reading list for anyone who wants to improve the performance of web systems. Each pick has its own review on this blog, and every entry links to it. The list starts with how performance works, then moves through backend tuning, frontend tuning, and delivery.
Why learn performance
Slow pages and responses hurt both the user experience and your infrastructure bill. When you understand the mechanics, you measure and find the cause before you change anything, instead of tweaking settings at random. The same approach helps in daily development, not just in contests like ISUCON.
1. Understand how performance works
Understanding System Performance Through Illustrations
It teaches the basic ideas of system performance with clear diagrams. It builds the foundation you want before you start tuning. I cover it in the review.
2. Speed up the backend
Mastering Web Performance Tuning
It draws on ISUCON experience to show how to speed up a web application in practice. If you plan to enter ISUCON, read it at least once. See the review.
3. Speed up the frontend
Web Frontend High-Performance Tuning
It goes beyond a list of tuning tricks and explains browser rendering and how to measure. Read it when you want to learn frontend performance work. I wrote it up in the review.
4. Optimize delivery
Web Distribution Technology
It covers content delivery with HTTP caching, reverse proxies, and CDNs in depth. Keep it close when you work on cache optimization. I cover it in the review.
Wrap-up
Start with Understanding System Performance Through Illustrations to get the ideas, then move to the server-side or frontend book depending on where your bottleneck lives. Read the delivery book after the other two, and the whole picture comes together. Every book has a full review here, so start with whichever one interests you most.
