Mastering System Design: From Fundamentals to Advanced Architecture

Part I: Introduction to System Design

1. 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)

2. 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

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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)

4. 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

5. 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

6. Chapter 8: Distributed Systems Fundamentals

   • Basics of distributed computing
   • Coordination in distributed systems
   • Consensus algorithms (Paxos, Raft, etc.)
   • Distributed data storage and replication

7. 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)

1. 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

2. Chapter 11: Designing for High Availability

   • Redundancy and failover strategies
   • Active-active vs active-passive architectures
   • Designing for fault tolerance
   • Disaster recovery planning

3. Chapter 12: Design Patterns in System Architecture

   • Client-server architecture
   • Peer-to-peer (P2P) systems
   • Event-driven architecture
   • Microkernel architecture

4. 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)

1. Chapter 14: Object-Oriented Design Fundamentals

   • SOLID principles
   • Design patterns (Factory, Singleton, Observer, etc.)
   • Interface design and abstractions
   • Code modularity and reusability

2. Chapter 15: Designing Databases

   • Data modeling and schema design
   • Normalization and denormalization
   • Indexing strategies
   • Query optimization techniques

3. Chapter 16: Designing APIs

   • RESTful API design
   • HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE)
   • API versioning and security
   • Rate limiting and pagination

4. Chapter 17: Authentication and Authorization

   • Authentication mechanisms (OAuth, JWT, etc.)
   • Role-based access control (RBAC)
   • Session management
   • Data security best practices

5. Chapter 18: Fault-Tolerant Design

   • Circuit breaker patterns
   • Retry strategies
   • Failover mechanisms
   • Graceful degradation

6. 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

1. Chapter 20: Designing a URL Shortener

   • Requirements gathering
   • High-level architecture and components
   • Database design and URL mapping
   • Caching and scaling considerations

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

1. Chapter 27: Distributed File Systems

   • Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS)
   • Google File System (GFS)
   • Data replication and fault tolerance

2. Chapter 28: Real-Time Data Processing

   • Batch vs stream processing
   • Apache Kafka, Apache Flink, and Apache Storm
   • Use cases for real-time analytics

3. Chapter 29: Machine Learning in System Design

   • Incorporating ML models into system architecture
   • Training vs serving models
   • Real-time recommendations and personalization

4. 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

1. Chapter 31: System Design Interview Patterns

   • Breaking down requirements
   • Trade-offs and justifying design decisions
   • Thinking in terms of scalability, reliability, and availability

2. 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

3. 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