System Design
Intermediate
Pro
Design a URL Shortener (bit.ly / TinyURL)
A model interview answer: requirements, estimation, key generation, redirects, caching and scale
25 min read
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Walk through a complete URL shortener design the way a strong candidate answers it: requirements and estimates, base62 vs hashing vs a key-generation service, 301 vs 302 redirects, hot-URL caching, sharding, expiry, analytics and abuse controls.
Practice questions (6)
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Estimating Traffic, Storage and Cache for a Shortener
Intermediate · Free -
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Choosing a Key Generation Strategy
Intermediate -
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301 vs 302 and the Analytics Path
Intermediate -
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Custom Aliases, Expiry and Key Reuse
Intermediate -
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Scaling Reads and Fighting Abuse
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