Key Acronyms in System Design: CAP, BASE, ACID, SOLID, and KISS Principles

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System design involves various principles, and knowing the key acronyms is essential. Let’s break them down:

1. CAP Theorem

The CAP Theorem defines three key properties of distributed systems:
– C (Consistency): All nodes see the same data at the same time.
– A (Availability): Every request gets a response, even if it’s a failure.
– P (Partition Tolerance): The system continues to function despite network partitions.
– Key Takeaway: You can’t have all three at the same time; you must choose two.

You Should Know:

  • Redis (AP System):
    redis-cli SET key "value" 
redis-cli GET key
  • PostgreSQL (CP System):
    BEGIN TRANSACTION; 
UPDATE accounts SET balance = balance - 100 WHERE user_id = 1; 
COMMIT;

2. BASE Model

An alternative to ACID for distributed databases:

  • B (Basically Available): The system guarantees availability.
  • A (Soft State): The system doesn’t need to be consistent all the time.
  • S (Eventual Consistency): The system will eventually become consistent.
  • Key Takeaway: Used in NoSQL databases like Cassandra and MongoDB.

You Should Know:

  • Cassandra (Eventual Consistency):
    cqlsh> CONSISTENCY QUORUM; 
INSERT INTO users (id, name) VALUES (1, 'Alice');
  • MongoDB (Tunable Consistency):
    db.users.insertOne({ name: "Bob" }, { writeConcern: { w: "majority" } });

3. ACID Principles

The foundation of relational databases:

  • A (Atomicity): Transactions are all-or-nothing.
  • C (Consistency): Transactions bring the database from one valid state to another.
  • I (Isolation): Transactions are isolated from each other.
  • D (Durability): Changes are permanent, even after a crash.

You Should Know:

  • MySQL (ACID Compliance):
    START TRANSACTION; 
INSERT INTO orders (product_id, quantity) VALUES (101, 2); 
ROLLBACK; -- If failure occurs

4. SOLID Principles

For maintainable and scalable code:

  • S (Single Responsibility): A class should have one reason to change.
  • O (Open/Closed): Open for extension, closed for modification.
  • L (Liskov Substitution): Subclass objects should replace superclass objects.
  • I (Interface Segregation): No client should depend on unused methods.
  • D (Dependency Inversion): Depend on abstractions, not concretions.

You Should Know:

  • Python Example (Dependency Inversion):
    from abc import ABC, abstractmethod 
class Database(ABC): 
@abstractmethod 
def save(self, data): pass </li>
</ul>

class MySQL(Database): 
def save(self, data): print(f"Saving {data} to MySQL")

class MongoDB(Database): 
def save(self, data): print(f"Saving {data} to MongoDB")

    5. KISS Principle

    • K (Keep) I (It) S (Simple) S (Stupid): Avoid unnecessary complexity.

    You Should Know:

    • Bash One-Liner (Simple Log Filtering):
      grep "ERROR" /var/log/syslog | awk '{print $1, $2, $3}'

    What Undercode Say

    Understanding these principles is crucial for designing scalable, fault-tolerant, and maintainable systems. Here are additional Linux/Windows commands to reinforce learning:

    • Linux (Check Network Partitions):
      ping -c 4 google.com 
netstat -tuln
    • Windows (Verify Database Durability):
      fsutil file queryEA "C:\Data\transaction.log"
    • Docker (Isolation Check):
      docker run --rm -it alpine sh

    Expected Output:

    A well-structured system design leverages CAP, BASE, ACID, SOLID, and KISS to balance trade-offs between consistency, availability, and simplicity.

    Prediction:

    As cloud-native architectures evolve, CAP trade-offs will become more manageable with advancements in distributed consensus algorithms (Raft, Paxos) and serverless computing.

    References:

    Reported By: Jaswindder Kummar – Hackers Feeds
    Extra Hub: Undercode MoN
    Basic Verification: Pass ✅

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