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improve(ch13): replace weak MC distractors with plausible alternatives - #36
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Audit identified 10 of 18 MC questions had at least one trivially-eliminated distractor (absolute superlatives, off-topic buzzwords, or statements that directly contradict basic CS fundamentals). Changes per question: - Q1: Replace gigabyte cap / security compliance / join-incapability straw-men with real trade-off misconceptions (RDBMS reliability, Redis/ES equivalence) - Q4 (total order): Replace 'mathematically impossible' and 'physically guaranteed' hyperbole with realistic scaling misconceptions - Q6 (Kappa evolution): Replace 'stop writes' / 'warehouse restore' with plausible-sounding but wrong alternatives - Q7 (CDC bootstrap): Tighten option wording; options A/C/D now describe real but incorrect engineering approaches - Q10 (dataflow vs microservices): Remove 'eliminates local storage' and 'synchronous lock coordination' obvious tells; replace with subtler wrong trade-offs - Q12 (write/read path): Replace 'silicon optimizations' buzzword and 'system of record' misdirection with plausible index/cache misconceptions - Q13 (offline clients): Remove 'stateless buffer' and 'un-derivable' obvious tells; replace with real offline-sync misconceptions - Q15 (read queries as events): Remove 'absolute zero CPU' and 'eliminates sharding' hyperbole; replace with subtle scope-of-benefit misconceptions - Q17 (ACID vs bugs): Replace 'single-node ACID', 'bypass transaction manager', and 'lack serializable isolation' straw-men with constraint vs logic-bug plausible confusions - Q18 (event sourcing auditability): Replace 'homomorphic encryption' and 'blockchain' buzzword injections and 'no historical records' contradiction with subtler immutability and scope misconceptions
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Summary
This PR addresses the distractor quality audit for Chapter 13's multiple-choice questions. 10 of the 18 MC questions had at least one option that was trivially eliminatable — either through absolute superlatives (
"absolute zero","100%","mathematically impossible"), off-topic buzzwords (homomorphic encryption, blockchain), or statements that directly contradict foundational CS knowledge ("RDBMSes can't do joins", "ACID only works on single nodes").All
correctanswer indices andexplanationstrings are unchanged. Only wrong answer options were rewritten.Questions Changed
"mathematically impossible"/"physically guaranteed"hyperbole → realistic vector clock and vertical scaling misconceptions"eliminates local storage"and"synchronous lock coordination"obvious tells → subtler cost/consistency misconceptions"silicon optimizations"buzzword and"system of record"misdirection → lazy evaluation and write-amplification misconceptions"stateless buffer"and"un-derivable"obvious tells → realistic client-as-authority and WAL-buffer misconceptions"absolute zero CPU"and"eliminates sharding"hyperbole → scope-of-benefit misconceptions"single-node ACID","bypass transaction manager","no serializable isolation"straw-men → constraint vs. application logic plausible confusions"homomorphic encryption"and"blockchain"buzzword injections,"no historical records"contradiction → compaction and append-only scope misconceptionsWhat was deliberately kept