System Design10 lessons20 quiz questions
Networking Fundamentals
Networking is the plumbing of distributed systems. Mental model: data moves through layers. Each layer adds overhead but provides guarantees. HTTP/1.1 → HTTP/2 → HTTP/3 is a story of removing bottlenecks. TCP → UDP is a story of trading guarantees for speed. Master the flows and trade-offs.
What You Will Learn
- ✓TCP vs UDP
- ✓HTTP Versions
- ✓DNS Deep Dive
- ✓TLS/HTTPS
- ✓WebSocket vs SSE vs Long Polling
- ✓gRPC vs REST
- ✓Connection Pooling and Keep-Alive
- ✓Network Failure Modes
- ✓HTTP/3 and QUIC
- ✓System Design Mock: Networking Layer
Overview
Networking is the plumbing of distributed systems. Mental model: data moves through layers. Each layer adds overhead but provides guarantees. HTTP/1.1 → HTTP/2 → HTTP/3 is a story of removing bottlenecks. TCP → UDP is a story of trading guarantees for speed. Master the flows and trade-offs.
Networking Fundamentals
TCP vs UDP
TCP
3-way handshake
Guaranteed delivery, ordering
Slower (overhead)
Web, API, file transfer
TCP 3-Way Handshake
HTTP Versions
Key Feature
Persistent connections
Multiplexing, header compression
QUIC (UDP-based)
DNS Resolution
TLS 1.3 Handshake
WebSocket vs HTTP
REST vs gRPC
REST
JSON (text)
Slower
Limited (SSE)
Native
Public APIs
Interview Tip
"I'd use REST for public APIs (JSON is human-readable, great DX) and gRPC for internal service-to-service communication (protobuf is 2-10x faster and enforces schema)."
Python Implementation
Java Implementation
Sample Quiz Questions
1. What is the main advantage of HTTP/2 over HTTP/1.1?
Remember·Difficulty: 1/5
2. Why does DNS primarily use UDP instead of TCP?
Understand·Difficulty: 2/5
3. WebSocket connections work over standard HTTP ports (80/443).
Remember·Difficulty: 1/5
+ 17 more questions available in the full app.
Related Topics
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