Backend Foundations

Reliability, scale, CAP, load balancing, and core data choices—the vocabulary every backend engineer needs before design drills.

Level: beginner · Duration: 3 weeks · Focus: Reliability, CAP, Databases, Load balancing

Articles

1. System Design Foundations — How Large Software Fits Together
2. Availability — Nines, Error Budgets, and Redundancy
3. Reliability — Correct Results Under Stress
4. Scalability — Vertical, Horizontal, and Elastic Growth
5. Latency vs Throughput vs Bandwidth
6. CAP Theorem — Consistency, Availability, and Partition Tolerance
7. Fault Tolerance — Keep Working When Parts Fail
8. Load Balancing — Algorithms and Layers
9. SQL vs NoSQL — Choosing a Data Store
10. Database Indexes — Find Rows Without Scanning Everything

All study paths · Practice quizzes

Shubham Jain · Learning Lab