System Design Course for Beginners

Index

Module 1: Introduction to System Design

• What is System Design?
• Why Learn System Design?
• System Design vs Software Design
• Types of System Design: High-Level vs Low-Level

Module 2: Design Basics & Requirements

• Functional vs Non-Functional Requirements
• Capacity Estimation
• Latency vs Throughput
• Availability vs Reliability

Module 3: Scalability and Load Handling

• Horizontal vs Vertical Scaling
• Load Balancers
• CDN (Content Delivery Network)
• Rate Limiting

Module 4: Database Design

• Relational vs NoSQL Databases
• Sharding and Partitioning
• Indexing and Denormalization
• CAP Theorem

Module 5: Caching

• What is Caching?
• Client-Side vs Server-Side Caching
• Cache Invalidation Strategies
• Redis and Memcached Overview

Module 6: Asynchronous Processing

• Message Queues (e.g., Kafka, RabbitMQ)
• Event-Driven Architecture
• Cron Jobs and Scheduled Tasks

Module 7: System Design Patterns

• Microservices vs Monolith
• Service-Oriented Architecture
• API Gateway Pattern
• Strangler Fig Pattern

Module 8: Designing Real-World Systems

• Design URL Shortener
• Design Instagram
• Design WhatsApp
• Design YouTube

Module 9: Non-Functional Topics

• Monitoring and Logging
• Security and Authentication
• Disaster Recovery
• Cost Optimization

Module 10: Interview Preparation Tips

• How to Approach System Design Questions
• Common Mistakes to Avoid
• Resources for Practice