databases
Understanding the Tradeoff Between Reads and Writes in Databases and Why You Can’t Optimize Both at the Same Time
A clear explanation of the read/write tradeoff in databases and its impact on performance decisions.
Tag: system-design
9 articles about system-design
security
Chess.com’s Authentication Flow — What’s Missing and How to Fix It
Exploring Chess.com's authentication system: what happens when email verification is missing, the security vulnerabilities it creates, and how to build a stronger authentication flow
caching
How I Reduced API Latency by Using Caching
A practical look at caching strategy that reduced latency and stabilized backend performance.
microservices
From Monolith to Microservices: Breaking the Big Snowball into Many Rolling Pebbles
Explore how and why companies transition from monolithic architectures to microservices — and what that means for building apps that stay fast, reliable and easier to manage as they grow
system-design
System Design: Building a Notification Service
Designing a scalable notification system with queues, retries, idempotency, and user preferences.
databases
Comparing Log-Structured and B-Tree Storage Engines
A clear comparison of LSM trees vs B-trees, write amplification, read patterns, and when each design wins.
caching
Cache Invalidation Strategies That Actually Work in Production
A practical guide to TTLs, event-driven invalidation, and cache stampede protection for real-world systems.
databases
How Database Indexes Actually Speed Up Reads (And When They Don’t)
A clean mental model of B+ trees, selectivity, and query planners, plus the real-world cases where indexes hurt performance.
system-design
Designing a Rate Limiter That Survives Traffic Spikes
A practical guide to rate limiting with token bucket and sliding window strategies, Redis patterns, and failure modes that show up in production.