In this episode of the DuckDB in Research series, host Jack Waudby talks with Abigale Kim, PhD student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and author of VLDB 2025 paper: “Anarchy in the Database: A Survey and Evaluation of DBMS Extensibility”. They explore how database extensibility is reshaping modern data systems — and why DuckDB is emerging as the gold standard for safe, flexible, and high-performance extensions. Abigale shares the inside story of her research, the surprises uncovered when testing Postgres and DuckDB extensions, and what’s next for extensibility and composable database design.

This episode is perfect for researchers, practitioners, and students interested in databases, systems design, and the interplay between academia and industry innovation.

Highlights:

• What “extensibility” really means in a DBMS
• How DuckDB compares to Postgres, MySQL, and Redis
• The rise of GPU-accelerated DuckDB extensions
• Why bridging research and engineering matters for the future of databases

Links:

• Anarchy in the Database: A Survey and Evaluation of Database Management System Extensibility VLDB 2025
• Rethinking Analytical Processing in the GPU Era

You can find Abigale at:

• X
• Bluesky
• Personal site

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