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-# new branch
+# The TinySQL Course
+
+The TinySQL course builds a learning-friendly mini distributed relational database. It is inspired by [TiDB Project](https://github.com/pingcap/tidb).
+
+In this course, you will build a distributed relational database by yourself. You will also learn about the design and implementation of distributed database.
+
+## Course Architecture
+
+The whole project is a skeleton code for a server compatible whith the MySQL protocol. You need to finish the core code step by step:
+
+- Stage 1: read-only relational database
+  - Target: the ability to read data using KV engine API
+  - Iconic function: the ability to handle simple SELECT statements
+  - Knowledge topic:
+        - parser
+        - data mapping from the relational model to KV
+        - generating operator
+- Stage 2: insert and update
+  - Target: the ability to write data using KV engine API
+  - Iconic function: the ability to handle simple INSERT/UPDATE statements
+  - Knowledge topic:
+    - volcano model
+- Stage 3: DDL
+  - Target: the ability to process DDL online
+  - Iconic function: the ability to process CREATE/DROP TABLE/INDEX online
+  - Knowledge topic:
+    - online DDL algorithm
+- Stage 4: Optimizer
+  - Target: implement an optimizer and be able to choose the appropriate index and Join Order
+  - Iconic function:
+    - ability to collect statistics
+    - ability to choose the appropriate index and Join Order
+  - Knowledge topic:
+    - SQL optimization
+    - statistics
+    - SystemR optimizer
+- Stage 5: Calculation optimization
+  - Target: optimize the calculation framework to improve performance
+  - Iconic function:
+    - vectorization
+    - Massively Parallel Processing(MPP)
+  - Knowledge topic:
+    - vectorization
+    - MPP
+
+## Code Structure
+
+TODO
+
+## Deploy
+
+### Build
+
+```
+make
+```
+
+### Run & Play
+
+Use `./bin/tinysql-server` to run the server and use MySQL client `mysql --host 127.0.0.1 --port 4000 -u root` to connect the server.
+
+## Contributing
+
+Any feedback and contribution is greatly appreciated. Please see [issues](https://github.com/tidb-incubator/tinysql/issues) if you want to join in the development.
+
+## License
+
+TinySQL is under the Apache 2.0 license.