Blog
Mert Özen's blog posts on software development, backend, frontend, and DevOps.
The Shadow Record: A Virtual Root That Doesn't Exist in the Database — "Institution = 0" Above Units
An "Institution = 0" root that doesn't exist in the database works safely if 0 is turned into an InstitutionUnitScope type (null inside) right at the API boundary; carry 0 as a plain int and you get empty lists on reads and FK violations on writes. Using Bookstore's institutional unit tree, the post compares the virtual root, a real root row, an Institution entity and an explicit scope contract with their trade-offs.
What Is a Solution Pattern? Real-World Problems Missing from GoF and the Pattern Template
A solution pattern is a recurring application decision that, unlike the code-structure patterns of GoF (the Gang of Four), cuts across data, API and UI together (soft delete, sentinel values, a virtual root). This post introduces the series' Pattern Template, its fixed trade-off criteria and the starting schema of Bookstore's institutional ordering portal.