About System Design Primer
The System Design Primer is a free, open source guide to designing large-scale systems. It is written as preparation for system design interviews and is kept up to date by its contributors.
What it does
The repository collects reading material on how large systems are built and how their parts fit together. It explains core trade-offs, such as the difference between latency and throughput, and shows how common designs handle growth. Practice problems come with worked solutions, and the project also includes a set of Anki flashcards for review.
Key features
- Written guide to system design concepts
- Worked solutions to design problems
- Anki flashcards for review
- Translated into many languages
- Open to contributions from the community
Who it's for
Software engineers who want to understand how large services are built, and anyone preparing for a system design interview. It is most useful to people who already write code and want to think about scale.
Pricing and good to know
The guide is free to read on GitHub. The project is maintained through community contributions, including translations into many languages, and its README lists the languages available.
Highlights
- Written guide to large-scale system design concepts
- Worked solutions to practice design problems
- Anki flashcards for review sessions
- Translations into many human languages
- Open to contributions and translations
