System Design Core Path

Layered path from foundations through data, cache, async, and resiliency—then interview designs.

Level: intermediate · Duration: 5 weeks · Focus: Caching, Messaging, Resiliency, Interviews

Articles

1. System Design Foundations — How Large Software Fits Together
2. Data Replication — Keeping Copies in Sync
3. Database Sharding — Split Data Across Many Machines
4. Strong vs Eventual Consistency — Trade-offs in Distributed Systems
5. Caching 101 — Memory Offloading and Latency Reduction
6. Caching Strategies — Aside, Through, Behind, and Refresh-Ahead
7. Content Delivery Networks (CDN) — Edge Acceleration and Caching
8. Message Queues — Hand Work Off Without Blocking the User
9. Publish/Subscribe Messaging — One Event, Many Interested Listeners
10. Event-Driven Architecture — React to Facts, Don’t Chain Calls
11. Circuit Breakers and Cascading Failure Control — Stop One Fire From Burning the Block
12. Rate Limiting Algorithms — Token Bucket, Windows, and Bursts
13. Idempotency for APIs — Safe Retries Without Double Side Effects
14. System Design Interview Answering Framework
15. Design a URL Shortener — Interview Walkthrough
16. Design a Rate Limiter — Interview Walkthrough

All study paths · Practice quizzes

Shubham Jain · Learning Lab