Top 5 Things Every Apache Kafka Developer Should Know

What this post added

This post introduces key improvements to the Kafka producer and consumer APIs. For producers, it explains the `acks` configuration and the importance of `min.insync.replicas` for data durability, and details the new sticky partitioner (KIP-480) for more efficient batching. For consumers, it introduces cooperative rebalancing as an alternative to the older, disruptive rebalance protocol. It also covers the utility of Kafka command-line tools and the use of record headers.