System design

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A guided path from interview fundamentals to the building blocks, the trade-offs that decide a design, and worked walkthroughs of real systems. 4 chapters · 144 lessons — all on-device, mark them complete as you go.

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1.Cracking the system design interview

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What a system design interview actually testsconcept7 min Functional vs non-functional requirementsconcept8 min Back-of-the-envelope estimationconcept9 min Common mistakes and how to dodge themconcept7 min A worked mini-walkthrough — applying the frameworkbuild9 min

2.The building blocks

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3.Trade-offs that define a design

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Why trade-offs matter in interviewsconcept6 min Strong vs eventual consistencyconcept7 min Latency vs throughputconcept6 min ACID vs BASEconcept7 min Read-through vs write-through cacheconcept6 min Batch vs stream processingconcept7 min Load balancer vs API gatewayconcept6 min API gateway vs direct service exposureconcept6 min Proxy vs reverse proxyconcept5 min API gateway vs reverse proxyconcept6 min SQL vs NoSQL — when to choose whichconcept6 min Primary-replica vs peer-to-peer replicationconcept6 min Data compression vs data deduplicationconcept5 min Server-side vs client-side cachingconcept5 min REST vs RPCconcept6 min Polling vs long-polling vs WebSockets vs webhooksconcept8 min CDN vs serving from originconcept7 min Serverless vs traditional serversconcept7 min Stateful vs stateless architectureconcept7 min Hybrid-cloud vs all-cloud storageconcept6 min Token bucket vs leaky bucketconcept7 min Read-heavy vs write-heavy systemsconcept7 min A trade-off cheat sheetbuild8 min

4.Designing real systems

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A repeatable interview frameworkframework10 min The master design templateframework9 min Designing a parking garageconcept8 min Building a parking garagebuild9 min Designing a vending machineconcept7 min Building a vending machinebuild8 min Designing a rate limiterconcept8 min Building a rate limiterbuild8 min Designing a load balancerconcept8 min Building a load balancerbuild8 min Designing a content delivery networkconcept8 min Building a content delivery networkbuild8 min Designing a distributed cacheconcept8 min Building a distributed cachebuild8 min Designing a distributed key-value storeconcept9 min Building a distributed key-value storebuild8 min Designing a distributed message queueconcept9 min Building a distributed message queuebuild8 min Designing a distributed job schedulerconcept8 min Building a distributed job schedulerbuild8 min Designing a distributed lock serviceconcept8 min Building a distributed lock servicebuild7 min Designing a notification serviceconcept8 min Building a notification servicebuild7 min Designing an authentication serviceconcept8 min Building an authentication servicebuild7 min Designing a URL shortener (TinyURL)concept8 min Building a URL shortener (TinyURL)build7 min Designing Pastebinconcept7 min Building Pastebinbuild6 min Designing a file sync service (Dropbox)concept9 min Building a file sync service (Dropbox)build8 min Designing object storage (S3)concept9 min Building object storage (S3)build8 min Designing a collaborative editor (Google Docs)concept9 min Building a collaborative editor (Google Docs)build8 min Designing an online code editorconcept8 min Building an online code editorbuild7 min Designing a code deployment systemconcept8 min Building a code deployment systembuild7 min Designing search autocomplete (typeahead)concept8 min Building search autocomplete (typeahead)build7 min Designing search indexing (Twitter search)concept8 min Building search indexing (Twitter search)build7 min Designing a distributed web crawlerconcept9 min Building a distributed web crawlerbuild7 min Designing a web search engineconcept9 min Building a web search enginebuild7 min Designing Twitterconcept9 min Building Twitterbuild8 min Designing Instagramconcept8 min Building Instagrambuild7 min Designing a news feed (Facebook)concept8 min Building a news feed (Facebook)build7 min Designing Redditconcept8 min Building Redditbuild7 min Designing TikTokconcept8 min Building TikTokbuild7 min Designing a chat system (WhatsApp)concept9 min Building a chat system (WhatsApp)build8 min Designing Tinderconcept8 min Building Tinderbuild6 min Designing a video conferencing system (Zoom)concept8 min Building a video conferencing system (Zoom)build7 min Designing YouTubeconcept9 min Building YouTubebuild7 min Designing Netflixconcept8 min Building Netflixbuild6 min Designing Spotifyconcept8 min Building Spotifybuild6 min Designing Yelp (proximity search)concept8 min Building Yelp (proximity search)build6 min Designing Uberconcept9 min Building Uberbuild7 min Designing DoorDash (food delivery)concept8 min Building DoorDash (food delivery)build7 min Designing Google Mapsconcept9 min Building Google Mapsbuild7 min Designing Airbnbconcept8 min Building Airbnbbuild7 min Designing an e-commerce store (Amazon)concept9 min Building an e-commerce store (Amazon)build7 min Designing Shopify (multi-tenant storefronts)concept8 min Building Shopify (multi-tenant storefronts)build6 min Designing a payment systemconcept9 min Building a payment systembuild7 min Designing a digital walletconcept7 min Building a digital walletbuild6 min Designing UPI (Unified Payments Interface)concept8 min Building UPI (Unified Payments Interface)build6 min Designing a flight booking systemconcept8 min Building a flight booking systembuild6 min Designing Ticketmasterconcept8 min Building Ticketmasterbuild7 min Designing a metrics & logging platformconcept9 min Building a metrics & logging platformbuild7 min