The Schema Management Renaissance in Cassandra 1.1

The recent rewrite of code handling schema changes in Cassandra has undergone significant improvements with its second major rewrite, now referred to as a "renaissance". This latest version introduces next-generation schema management that addresses the weaknesses found in previous versions. The new algorithm for schema modification and distribution is more reliable, user-friendly, and allows frequent schema updates without causing disagreement among nodes. It also handles situations where modifications are delayed or applied out of order due to network failures. However, simultaneous 'CREATE COLUMN FAMILY' operations on different nodes remain unsafe until version 1.2.