Mastering System Design: From Fundamentals to Advanced Architecture
Part I: Introduction to System Design
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Chapter 1: What is System Design?
- Importance of system design
- System design in interviews and real-world scenarios
- High-level design (HLD) vs Low-level design (LLD)
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Chapter 2: Key System Design Concepts
- Scalability
- Availability
- Reliability
- Maintainability
- Consistency and CAP theorem
- Latency and throughput
Part II: Core Building Blocks of System Design
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Chapter 3: Network Fundamentals
- Basics of computer networks
- HTTP/HTTPS, TCP/IP, DNS, and Load Balancers
- Content Delivery Networks (CDN)
- SSL, TLS, and security in networking
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Chapter 4: Data Storage and Databases
- Relational vs Non-Relational Databases
- Database partitioning, sharding, replication
- SQL, NoSQL databases
- ACID vs BASE properties
- Caching and in-memory databases (Redis, Memcached)
- Data consistency and transactions
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Chapter 5: Caching Strategies
- Introduction to caching and cache invalidation
- Client-side vs server-side caching
- Cache replacement policies (LRU, LFU, etc.)
- Distributed cache (Redis, Memcached)
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Chapter 6: Load Balancing
- Horizontal vs vertical scaling
- Types of load balancers (hardware, software, DNS-based)
- Load balancing algorithms (Round Robin, Least Connections, etc.)
- Traffic distribution and failover
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Chapter 7: Messaging Queues and Event-Driven Architecture
- Synchronous vs asynchronous communication
- Message Queues (RabbitMQ, Kafka)
- Event-driven architecture and event sourcing
- Message brokers and publishers/subscribers
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Chapter 8: Distributed Systems Fundamentals
- Basics of distributed computing
- Coordination in distributed systems
- Consensus algorithms (Paxos, Raft, etc.)
- Distributed data storage and replication
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Chapter 9: Microservices Architecture
- Introduction to microservices
- Microservices vs monolithic architecture
- Service discovery, API gateways, and communication between services
- Data management in microservices
Part III: High-Level System Design (HLD)
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Chapter 10: Designing Scalable Systems
- System scaling techniques (vertical vs horizontal)
- Stateless vs stateful services
- Distributed databases and data partitioning
- Auto-scaling, monitoring, and capacity planning
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Chapter 11: Designing for High Availability
- Redundancy and failover strategies
- Active-active vs active-passive architectures
- Designing for fault tolerance
- Disaster recovery planning
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Chapter 12: Design Patterns in System Architecture
- Client-server architecture
- Peer-to-peer (P2P) systems
- Event-driven architecture
- Microkernel architecture
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Chapter 13: Consistency and Data Integrity
- Strong vs eventual consistency
- CAP theorem in practice
- Distributed transactions and 2PC
- Conflict resolution strategies
Part IV: Low-Level Design (LLD)
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Chapter 14: Object-Oriented Design Fundamentals
- SOLID principles
- Design patterns (Factory, Singleton, Observer, etc.)
- Interface design and abstractions
- Code modularity and reusability
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Chapter 15: Designing Databases
- Data modeling and schema design
- Normalization and denormalization
- Indexing strategies
- Query optimization techniques
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Chapter 16: Designing APIs
- RESTful API design
- HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE)
- API versioning and security
- Rate limiting and pagination
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Chapter 17: Authentication and Authorization
- Authentication mechanisms (OAuth, JWT, etc.)
- Role-based access control (RBAC)
- Session management
- Data security best practices
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Chapter 18: Fault-Tolerant Design
- Circuit breaker patterns
- Retry strategies
- Failover mechanisms
- Graceful degradation
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Chapter 19: Monitoring and Observability
- Metrics, logging, and tracing
- Centralized logging systems (ELK Stack)
- Distributed tracing (Zipkin, Jaeger)
- Alerting systems
Part V: Case Studies and Practical Systems
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Chapter 20: Designing a URL Shortener
- Requirements gathering
- High-level architecture and components
- Database design and URL mapping
- Caching and scaling considerations
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Chapter 21: Designing an E-commerce Platform
- User management, catalog, and shopping cart
- Order processing and inventory management
- Payment gateways and refund system
- Scalability and fault tolerance
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Chapter 22: Designing a Ride-Sharing System
- Real-time location tracking and matching drivers with riders
- Trip management and fare calculation
- Route optimization and traffic management
- High availability and fault tolerance
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Chapter 23: Designing a Video Streaming Platform
- Content distribution and CDNs
- Video encoding and adaptive bitrate streaming
- Recommendation engine and personalization
- Handling high traffic and reducing latency
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Chapter 24: Designing a Real-Time Chat Application
- Message delivery and persistence
- User presence management
- WebSockets vs Long-polling
- Scalability, load balancing, and message queue integration
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Chapter 25: Designing a Social Media Platform
- User profiles, posts, and news feed generation
- Notification systems and real-time updates
- Data storage and retrieval at scale
- Handling millions of users concurrently
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Chapter 26: Designing a Search Engine
- Web crawling and indexing
- Query processing and ranking algorithms
- Data partitioning and sharding
- Latency optimization
Part VI: Advanced Topics in System Design
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Chapter 27: Distributed File Systems
- Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS)
- Google File System (GFS)
- Data replication and fault tolerance
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Chapter 28: Real-Time Data Processing
- Batch vs stream processing
- Apache Kafka, Apache Flink, and Apache Storm
- Use cases for real-time analytics
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Chapter 29: Machine Learning in System Design
- Incorporating ML models into system architecture
- Training vs serving models
- Real-time recommendations and personalization
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Chapter 30: Security in Distributed Systems
- Data encryption and secure communication
- User data privacy and compliance (GDPR)
- Securing APIs and authentication services
Part VII: Interview Preparation for System Design
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Chapter 31: System Design Interview Patterns
- Breaking down requirements
- Trade-offs and justifying design decisions
- Thinking in terms of scalability, reliability, and availability
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Chapter 32: Common System Design Interview Questions
- Sample questions and strategies for answering
- Designing solutions under constraints (cost, time, etc.)
- Handling ambiguity and evolving requirements
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Chapter 33: Mock System Design Interview Cases
- Case 1: Design a real-time collaborative document editor
- Case 2: Design an online food delivery service
- Case 3: Design a distributed file storage system
- Case 4: Design a global advertisement system
Top comments (2)
What is the idea of this article? To listing the content of some book ?
Nope, this is the content I plan to explain in the upcoming posts. This acts as a road map for me and whoever wants to learn system design. I am trying my best to put the contents here soon, crisp and accurate to help learners.
Happy learning!