16 entries · Handbook
A practitioner's
reference.
Longer-form pieces for the decisions you keep coming back to — how to cache, where to shard, what to do when one box is not enough. Designed to be re-read.
Primers.
6 entriesPrimer
Caching strategies
Write-through, write-behind, cache-aside — in one place.
Primer
Database indexing
Where the extra disk goes and why queries fly.
Primer
Load balancing
Where you choose, what you measure, how it fails.
Primer
Scaling out
Horizontal growth patterns and their seams.
Primer
NoSQL databases
Key-value, wide-column, document, graph — fit for purpose.
Primer
Network protocols & DNS
The layers, the acronyms, the practical bits.
Deep dives.
4 entriesDeep dive
Advanced caching
Stampedes, jitter, warming, invalidation.
Deep dive
Database scaling
Replication, sharding, partitioning, and operational reality.
Deep dive
Async architecture
Events, queues, idempotence, at-least-once.
Deep dive
Orchestration & resiliency
Timeouts, retries, bulkheads, circuit breakers.
Design exercises.
3 entriesFrameworks & essays.
3 entriesKeep going
When you're ready for mechanics, the Guides are next door.
The handbook is about decisions. The guides are about internals. They cross-reference freely.
Browse the guides →