Ask clarifying questions to define features and constraints (e.g., DAU, scale, tech stack). Step 2: Propose High-Level Design and Get Buy-In:
: Scaling from one to millions of users, consistent hashing, and unique ID generation. system design interview alex hu pdf
Alex Xu repeats 10 core components throughout the book. You must know these cold: Ask clarifying questions to define features and constraints
| Topic | Options | Trade‑off | |-------|---------|------------| | | SQL (ACID) vs NoSQL (scalability) | Consistency vs partition tolerance | | Caching | Redis (in‑memory), CDN (edge) | Stale reads vs lower latency | | Consistency | Strong vs eventual | Performance vs data correctness | | Sharding | Range vs hash‑based | Simplicity vs even distribution | | Replication | Single leader vs multi‑leader | Write throughput vs conflict resolution | | Async processing | Queue (Kafka, RabbitMQ) + workers | Latency vs eventual consistency | You must know these cold: | Topic |
By following the tips and best practices outlined in this article, you can use Alex Xu's PDF guide to: