System Design Interview Alex Wu Pdf New May 2026

Volume 1 introduces fundamentals like horizontal scaling, database replication, and load balancing. It breaks down popular scenarios including:

+------------------------------------------+ | 1. Understand Scope & Clarify | | - Define Functional & Non-Functional | | - Set Constraints (e.g., DAU, Storage)| +--------------------+---------------------+ | v +------------------------------------------+ | 2. Propose High-Level Design | | - API Endpoints & Core Components | | - High-Level Data Flow Diagrams | +--------------------+---------------------+ | v +------------------------------------------+ | 3. Deep Dive into Core Components | | - Sharding, Caching, & Fault Tolerance| | - Data Consistency & Edge Cases | +--------------------+---------------------+ | v +------------------------------------------+ | 4. Wrap Up & Summarize | | - Identify Bottlenecks | | - Discuss Future Scalability | +------------------------------------------+ 1. Understand Scope and Clarify Requirements

Map out the key API endpoints and the primary database schemas. system design interview alex wu pdf new

Ask questions to pin down functional requirements (e.g., "Does our chat app need to support group chats, or just 1-on-1?" ).

Establish non-functional requirements: scalability, high availability, latency limits, and data consistency. 2. Propose a High-Level Design Propose High-Level Design | | - API Endpoints

Sketch the architecture end-to-end: clients, load balancers, web servers, databases, and message queues.

Real-time stream processing for trillions of events. Understand Scope and Clarify Requirements Map out the

Protecting infrastructure from traffic spikes.

Implementing scalable and distributed data storage. Volume 2: Advanced Case Studies

Evenly distributing data across sharded nodes.