System Design Preparation
Master the art of designing scalable, reliable, and maintainable systems. This section covers everything from high-level architecture to low-level implementation details.
Core Design Problems
High-Level Design (HLD)
⏳In ProgressEnd-to-end system architecture, component design, and scalability patterns.
Low-Level Design (LLD)
✓CompleteObject-oriented design, class diagrams, and implementation patterns.
Foundational Concepts
Distributed Systems
✓CompleteCAP theorem, consensus algorithms, replication, partitioning, and failure handling.
Databases
✓CompleteSQL vs NoSQL, ACID, indexing, schema design, sharding, and replication.
Caching
✓CompleteCache strategies, invalidation patterns, CDN, and distributed caching.
Messaging Queues
✓CompleteEvent-driven architecture, message brokers, and stream processing.
Patterns & Practices
Scalability Patterns
✓CompleteSharding, load balancing, horizontal scaling, and auto-scaling strategies.
Tradeoffs
✓CompleteCAP theorem, consistency vs availability, latency vs throughput decisions.
Case Studies
📋PlannedReal-world system design walkthroughs from top tech companies.
Interview Approach
Framework for System Design Interviews
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Requirements Clarification (3-5 min)
- Functional requirements: What should the system do?
- Non-functional requirements: Scale, latency, availability
- Constraints and assumptions
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High-Level Design (10-15 min)
- Core components and their interactions
- Data flow and API design
- Technology choices with justification
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Deep Dive (15-20 min)
- Scale one or two critical components
- Address bottlenecks and failure modes
- Discuss tradeoffs explicitly
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Wrap-up (5 min)
- Summarize key decisions
- Discuss future improvements
- Address operational concerns
Key Principles
- Start simple, then scale – Don’t over-engineer from the start
- Quantify everything – Back of envelope calculations matter
- Trade-offs over perfection – There’s no perfect solution
- Think about failures – What happens when things go wrong?