System Design Basics

This chapter is a reference, not a reading list.

Everything in it is a building block that shows up inside the designs in the earlier chapters. Think of the load balancer you drew, the index you added, or the replication you promised. Each lesson takes one of those and explains how it actually works, in more depth than a design walkthrough has room for.

You do not need to read it front to back, and most people should not. Come here in one of three situations.

A term in an earlier chapter was unfamiliar. Look it up, read the one lesson, go back. That is the main use.