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wtf is orderly?

tarruda/orderly — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-07-18 · repo last pushed 2012-07-26

JavaAudience · developerComplexity · 3/5DormantSetup · moderate

TL;DR

Orderly turns Java data like numbers, text, and dates into byte keys that sort in the same order as the original values, for databases like HBase.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((orderly))
    What it does
      Byte serialization
      Preserves sort order
      Handles composite keys
      Space efficient
    Tech stack
      Java
      HBase
      Writable types
    Use cases
      Leaderboard keys
      Time series keys
      MapReduce jobs
      Sorted key databases
    Audience
      Backend developers
      Database engineers
      Big data teams

Code map

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filefunction / class

Why would anyone build with this?

REASON 1

Build a leaderboard keyed by timestamp, username, and score that sorts correctly as raw bytes.

REASON 2

Create chronologically sortable keys for a time-series database.

REASON 3

Pack multiple typed fields into one sortable byte key for HBase.

REASON 4

Process billions of records in MapReduce jobs with memory-efficient encoding.

What's in the stack?

JavaHBase

How it stacks up

tarruda/orderlyabhishek-kumar09/pmdahus1/cdt
LanguageJavaJavaJava
Last pushed2012-07-262020-11-152024-11-05
MaintenanceDormantDormantStale
Setup difficultymoderatemoderatemoderate
Complexity3/53/53/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you spin it up?

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Requires understanding of byte-sorted key-value databases like HBase to use effectively.

The README does not state license terms.

Yoink these prompts

Prompt 1
Show me how to use Orderly to encode a composite key of timestamp, username, and score.
Prompt 2
Explain how Orderly keeps byte-sorted order the same as numeric or string order.
Prompt 3
Help me choose between 32-bit and 64-bit encoding for my HBase row keys.
Prompt 4
How do I split a composite Orderly-encoded key back into its original fields?

Frequently asked questions

wtf is orderly?

Orderly turns Java data like numbers, text, and dates into byte keys that sort in the same order as the original values, for databases like HBase.

What language is orderly written in?

Mainly Java. The stack also includes Java, HBase.

Is orderly actively maintained?

Dormant — no commits in 2+ years (last push 2012-07-26).

What license does orderly use?

The README does not state license terms.

How hard is orderly to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is orderly for?

Mainly developer.

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