Glossary Page for System Design and Architecture Concepts

Introduction: Delving into the realms of system design and architecture? This glossary will serve as your guide, defining key terms and concepts to aid your understanding of this intricate field.

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  • Backend: The layer of software logic that processes data, ensuring the frontend works seamlessly. Often unseen by users, it’s a crucial component of system architecture.

  • Base Case: In the context of system design, it often refers to the simplest, smallest instance of a problem that can be directly solved. It’s often used in recursive solutions.

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  • Eventual Consistency: A system is eventually consistent if all nodes will be consistent over time, given that no new updates are made to the system. This is often achieved by propagating updates to all nodes in the background.

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  • Horizontal Scaling: Increasing the capacity of a system by adding more nodes to the system, aka Scale out . For example, adding more servers to a cluster.

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  • IP Address: A numerical label assigned to each device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. It’s the equivalent of a street address in the digital world.

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  • Node: In distributed systems, a node is an individual unit of computation and storage, often a computer, that collaborates with other nodes to achieve a common goal.

  • Node Failure: When a node stops functioning in a distributed system. Systems are often designed to be resilient to such failures.

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  • Scale up: Increasing the capacity of a system by adding more resources to a single node, aka Vertical Scaling . For example, adding more CPU or RAM to a server.

  • Scale out: Increasing the capacity of a system by adding more nodes to the system, aka Horizontal Scaling . For example, adding more servers to a cluster.

  • Strongly Consistent: A system is strongly consistent if all nodes see the same data at the same time. This is often achieved by having a single source of truth, such as a single database.

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  • Vertical Scaling: Increasing the capacity of a system by adding more resources to a single node, aka Scale up . For example, adding more CPU or RAM to a server.

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Note: The ever-evolving nature of system design and architecture means new concepts emerge regularly. We’re committed to updating this glossary, ensuring you’re always informed.