Module 15: Deep Dive Data

Welcome to the Deep Dive Data module. This is where we go below the surface of “Use a Key-Value Store” and understand exactly how they work.

We will deconstruct the seminal papers and systems that built the modern internet. You will learn not just what to use, but why it was built that way.

Chapters

  1. Dynamo (Amazon): The system that taught us about Availability, Vector Clocks, and Consistent Hashing.
  2. Cassandra (Wide Column): The hybrid beast that powers Facebook and Netflix. Learn about LSM Trees and Tombstones.
  3. BigTable (Google): The massive distributed map behind Google Search. Learn about Tablets, Splitting, and SSTables.
  4. MapReduce: The paradigm shift of moving Code to Data.
  5. Bloom Filters: The probabilistic magic that saves millions of disk seeks.
  6. Module Review: Flashcards and Cheat Sheets to cement your knowledge.

Why This Matters

In a System Design interview, saying “I’ll use Cassandra” is L1. Explaining “I’ll use Cassandra because I need fast writes (LSM Tree) and multi-region active-active availability, and I can tolerate eventual consistency” is L5/L6.

Let’s dive in.

Module Chapters