# System design topics: start here

> From [The System Design Primer](https://github.com/donnemartin/system-design-primer) by Donne Martin, licensed under CC BY 4.0, arranged into chapters for this site. Part of "Start here". Web page: https://system.tangentbyte.com/learn/system-design-topics-start-here

New to system design?

First, you'll need a basic understanding of common principles, learning about what they are, how they are used, and their pros and cons.

### Step 1: Review the scalability video lecture

[Scalability Lecture at Harvard](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W9F__D3oY4)

- Topics covered:

  - Vertical scaling
  - Horizontal scaling
  - Caching
  - Load balancing
  - Database replication
  - Database partitioning

### Step 2: Review the scalability article

[Scalability](https://web.archive.org/web/20221030091841/http://www.lecloud.net/tagged/scalability/chrono)

- Topics covered:

  - [Clones](https://web.archive.org/web/20220530193911/https://www.lecloud.net/post/7295452622/scalability-for-dummies-part-1-clones)
  - [Databases](https://web.archive.org/web/20220602114024/https://www.lecloud.net/post/7994751381/scalability-for-dummies-part-2-database)
  - [Caches](https://web.archive.org/web/20230126233752/https://www.lecloud.net/post/9246290032/scalability-for-dummies-part-3-cache)
  - [Asynchronism](https://web.archive.org/web/20220926171507/https://www.lecloud.net/post/9699762917/scalability-for-dummies-part-4-asynchronism)

### Next steps

Next, we'll look at high-level trade-offs:

- **Performance** vs **scalability**
- **Latency** vs **throughput**
- **Availability** vs **consistency**

Keep in mind that **everything is a trade-off**.

Then we'll dive into more specific topics such as DNS, CDNs, and load balancers.