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karanpratapsingh/system-design

★ 43,315Audience · developerComplexity · 2/5MaintainedSetup · easy

TLDR

Free written course on system design fundamentals for distributed systems, covering networking, databases, caching, and architectural patterns used in technical interviews.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it covers
      Networking basics
      Database design
      Caching strategies
      Distributed systems
    Core concepts
      CAP theorem
      Replication sharding
      Microservices
      Event-driven design
    Use cases
      Interview prep
      Infrastructure learning
      Onboarding reference
    Format
      Written guide
      Markdown docs
      Self-contained

Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Prepare for system design rounds in senior engineering interviews by studying real-world problem walkthroughs.

USE CASE 2

Learn distributed systems concepts like replication, sharding, and the CAP theorem as a reference guide.

USE CASE 3

Onboard to a new role by understanding the vocabulary and tradeoffs in building scalable infrastructure.

USE CASE 4

Build mental models of how databases, caching, and message queues work together in large systems.

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min
License could not be detected automatically. Check the repository's LICENSE file before use.

In plain English

This repository is a comprehensive, free system design course covering the concepts that engineers are expected to know when designing large-scale distributed systems, and that come up repeatedly in technical interviews at software companies. The course is structured as a written guide rather than executable code. It starts from networking fundamentals such as IP addressing, the OSI model, and DNS, then builds up through application-layer protocols, database design patterns (SQL vs NoSQL, replication, sharding, ACID), caching strategies, message queues, and distributed systems theory covering availability, consistency, and the CAP theorem. From there it covers architectural patterns like microservices, event-driven design, and service meshes, and closes with walkthroughs of real-world system design problems of the kind asked in technical interviews. You would use this resource when preparing for senior engineering interviews where system design rounds are common, when onboarding to a new engineering role that requires understanding distributed infrastructure, or simply when you want a structured reference for the vocabulary and tradeoffs involved in building scalable systems. The material is self-contained and assumes programming knowledge but does not require prior distributed systems experience. The repository does not contain runnable software. It is a learning resource maintained as markdown documents. The language field in the repository metadata is unspecified because there is no source code, only written educational content.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
I'm interviewing for a senior engineer role next week. Walk me through the system design course in this repo and help me practice designing a social media feed system.
Prompt 2
Explain the CAP theorem and how it applies to choosing between SQL and NoSQL databases for my application.
Prompt 3
I need to understand microservices architecture. Use the patterns from this system design guide to show me how to split a monolith.
Prompt 4
Help me design a caching strategy for a high-traffic e-commerce site using the concepts from this course.
Prompt 5
What are the tradeoffs between replication and sharding for scaling a database? Use this system design resource to explain.
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