System Design Was HARD - Until You Knew the Trade-Offs, Part 2
System design involves making trade-offs between vertical and horizontal scaling, REST and GraphQL APIs, and stateful versus stateless architectures to balance simplicity, scalability, and application-specific needs.
MAIN POINTS FROM TRANSCRIPT
- Vertical scaling adds resources to servers without code changes but has physical and cost limitations.
- Horizontal scaling offers unlimited growth and fault tolerance but adds complexity in load balancing and data consistency.
- REST APIs are ideal for straightforward operations, while GraphQL suits complex UIs needing precise data queries.
- Stateless design enhances scalability, but stateful components are essential for real-time applications like gaming and trading.
TAKEAWAYS
- Understanding application maturity and requirements is crucial in choosing between REST and GraphQL.
- Combining stateless and stateful designs can optimize performance and functionality in modern architectures.
- Horizontal scaling requires more engineering effort but provides greater scalability potential.
- Caching strategies are vital for performance as applications scale, with trade-offs in cache updating methods.