Basics 2

Question 1

What is a Notification System?

Answer 1

A system that sends messages to users through various channels like email, SMS, or push notifications.

Question 2

What are the advantages of a Notification System?

Answer 2

Enhances user engagement, provides timely information, and supports multiple communication channels.

Question 3

What are the disadvantages of a Notification System?

Answer 3

Can be intrusive if overused and requires handling user preferences and delivery failures.

Question 4

What are best practices when designing a Notification System?

Answer 4

Implement user preferences, retry mechanisms, and support for multiple channels.

Question 5

What are common use cases for a Notification System?

Answer 5

Order confirmations, alerts, reminders, and promotional messages.

Question 6

How does a Notification System impact system design?

Answer 6

Requires integration with third-party services, handling asynchronous processing, and ensuring message delivery.

Question 7

Give an example of a Notification System.

Answer 7

Services like Twilio, Firebase Cloud Messaging, and Amazon SNS provide notification capabilities.

Question 8

What are the architectural components of a Notification System?

Answer 8

Includes message queues, worker services, channel-specific gateways, and user preference management.

Question 9

How can performance be ensured in a Notification System?

Answer 9

Use asynchronous processing, scalable infrastructure, and efficient queuing mechanisms.

Question 10

How can fault tolerance be added to a Notification System?

Answer 10

Implement retries, fallback channels, and monitor delivery statuses.

Question 11

How is monitoring and debugging handled in a Notification System?

Answer 11

Track delivery metrics, bounce rates, and user engagement; log errors for analysis.

Question 12

What is a real-world tradeoff in Notification Systems?

Answer 12

Balancing timely delivery with user preferences and avoiding notification fatigue.

Question 13

What is a common interview question on Notification Systems?

Answer 13

Design a notification system supporting email, SMS, and push—how would you handle retries and user preferences?

Question 14

What is a potential gotcha in Notification Systems?

Answer 14

Failing to manage user preferences can lead to compliance issues and user dissatisfaction.

Question 15

What is a Caching System?

Answer 15

A system that stores frequently accessed data in a temporary storage layer to improve performance.

Question 16

What are the advantages of a Caching System?

Answer 16

Reduces latency, decreases load on primary data stores, and improves application responsiveness.

Question 17

What are the disadvantages of a Caching System?

Answer 17

Can lead to stale data if not managed properly and adds complexity to data consistency.

Question 18

What are best practices when designing a Caching System?

Answer 18

Implement appropriate eviction policies, use TTLs, and ensure cache consistency with the data source.

Question 19

What are common use cases for a Caching System?

Answer 19

Database query results, session data, and frequently accessed resources.

Question 20

How does a Caching System impact system design?

Answer 20

Requires consideration of data consistency, cache invalidation strategies, and memory management.

Question 21

Give an example of a Caching System.

Answer 21

Redis and Memcached are popular in-memory caching systems.

Question 22

What are the architectural components of a Caching System?

Answer 22

Includes cache servers, client libraries, and integration with application logic.

Question 23

How can performance be ensured in a Caching System?

Answer 23

Use in-memory storage, optimize cache hit rates, and monitor cache performance metrics.

Question 24

How can fault tolerance be added to a Caching System?

Answer 24

Implement replication, use distributed caching, and have fallback mechanisms to the primary data store.

Question 25

How is monitoring and debugging handled in a Caching System?

Answer 25

Monitor cache hit/miss ratios, eviction rates, and latency; log cache-related errors.

Question 26

What is a real-world tradeoff in Caching Systems?

Answer 26

Balancing cache freshness with performance; stale data can lead to inconsistencies.

Question 27

What is a common interview question on Caching Systems?

Answer 27

Design a caching layer for a high-traffic website—how would you handle cache invalidation and consistency?

Question 28

What is a potential gotcha in Caching Systems?

Answer 28

Improper cache invalidation can lead to serving outdated or incorrect data.

Question 29

What is a Key-Value Store?

Answer 29

A database that uses a simple key-value method to store data, allowing for fast retrieval.

Question 30

What are the advantages of a Key-Value Store?

Answer 30

High performance, scalability, and simplicity in data storage and retrieval.

Question 31

What are the disadvantages of a Key-Value Store?

Answer 31

Limited querying capabilities compared to relational databases and potential data redundancy.

Question 32

What are best practices when designing a Key-Value Store?

Answer 32

Use consistent hashing for data distribution, implement replication, and handle data persistence appropriately.

Question 33

What are common use cases for a Key-Value Store?

Answer 33

Session management, caching, user profiles, and configuration management.

Question 34

How does a Key-Value Store impact system design?

Answer 34

Influences data modeling, consistency strategies, and system scalability considerations.

Question 35

Give an example of a Key-Value Store.

Answer 35

Redis, Amazon DynamoDB, and Riak are examples of key-value stores.

Question 36

What are the architectural components of a Key-Value Store?

Answer 36

Includes data storage nodes, replication mechanisms, and client interfaces for data access.

Question 37

How can performance be ensured in a Key-Value Store?

Answer 37

Optimize data access patterns, use in-memory storage, and distribute data evenly across nodes.

Question 38

How can fault tolerance be added to a Key-Value Store?

Answer 38

Implement data replication, use consensus algorithms, and design for partition tolerance.

Question 39

How is monitoring and debugging handled in a Key-Value Store?

Answer 39

Monitor read/write latencies, replication status, and node health; log errors for analysis.

Question 40

What is a real-world tradeoff in Key-Value Stores?

Answer 40

Choosing between consistency and availability, especially in distributed systems.

Question 41

What is a common interview question on Key-Value Stores?

Answer 41

Design a distributed key-value store—how would you handle data partitioning and replication?

Question 42

What is a potential gotcha in Key-Value Stores?

Answer 42

Handling large values or objects can be challenging and may require additional strategies.

Question 43

What is a Message Queue?

Answer 43

A communication method used in distributed systems where messages are stored in a queue until they are processed by a consumer.

Question 44

What are the advantages of a Message Queue?

Answer 44

Decouples services, enables asynchronous processing, and improves system scalability and reliability.

Question 45

What are the disadvantages of a Message Queue?

Answer 45

Adds complexity to the system, potential message duplication, and requires handling message ordering.

Question 46

What are best practices when designing a Message Queue?

Answer 46

Ensure idempotent message processing, implement retry mechanisms, and monitor queue lengths.

Question 47

What are common use cases for a Message Queue?

Answer 47

Task scheduling, event-driven architectures, and inter-service communication.

Question 48

How does a Message Queue impact system design?

Answer 48

Influences service decoupling, fault tolerance strategies, and system throughput considerations.

Question 49

Give an example of a Message Queue.

Answer 49

Apache Kafka, RabbitMQ, and Amazon SQS are examples of message queues.

Question 50

What are the architectural components of a Message Queue?

Answer 50

Includes producers, consumers, brokers, and storage mechanisms for message persistence.

Question 51

How can performance be ensured in a Message Queue?

Answer 51

Optimize message serialization, use efficient network protocols, and scale brokers horizontally.

Question 52

How can fault tolerance be added to a Message Queue?

Answer 52

Implement message replication, use acknowledgments, and design for broker failover.

Question 53

How is monitoring and debugging handled in a Message Queue?

Answer 53

Monitor message throughput, queue lengths, and consumer lag; log processing errors.

Question 54

What is a real-world tradeoff in Message Queues?

Answer 54

Balancing message durability with system performance; persistent messages may reduce throughput.

Question 55

What is a common interview question on Message Queues?

Answer 55

Design a message queue system—how would you ensure message delivery guarantees and ordering?

Question 56

What is a potential gotcha in Message Queues?

Answer 56

Failure to handle message duplication can lead to unintended side effects in consumers.