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Architecture
Learn Architecture as a connected topic across articles, concepts, simulations, and interview reasoning.
ArchitectureMental ModelTradeoffsFailure ModesInterview ReasoningDense LLM Architecture
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Dense LLM Architecture gives you the cleanest entry point before branching into constraints, failures, and related systems.
12
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10
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Related systems
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Architecture
Continues from what you have already explored.
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HyperLogLog Cardinality Estimation
Hash values route into registers, leading-zero runs update maxima, and the harmonic mean estimates unique cardinality with bounded error.
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1Dense LLM Architecture: How Every Parameter Works on Every TokenTLDR: In a dense LLM every single parameter is active for every token in every forward pass — no routing, no selection. A transformer block runs multi-head self-attention (Q, K, V) followed by a feed-24 min2Medallion Architecture: Bronze, Silver, and Gold Layers in PracticeTLDR: Medallion Architecture solves the "data swamp" problem by organizing a data lake into three progressively refined zones — Bronze (raw, immutable), Silver (cleaned, conformed), Gold (aggregated, 23 min3Kappa Architecture: Streaming-First Data PipelinesTLDR: Kappa architecture replaces Lambda's batch + speed dual codebases with a single streaming pipeline backed by a replayable Kafka log. Reprocessing becomes replaying from offset 0. One codebase, n21 min4Microservices Architecture: Decomposition, Communication, and Trade-offsTLDR: Microservices let teams deploy and scale services independently — but every service boundary you draw costs you a network hop, a consistency challenge, and an operational burden. The architectur22 min5Serverless Architecture Pattern: Event-Driven Scale with Operational GuardrailsTLDR: Serverless is strongest for spiky asynchronous workloads when cold-start, observability, and state boundaries are intentionally designed.
TLDR: Serverless works best for spiky, event-driven wo13 min6Modernization Architecture Patterns: Strangler Fig, Anti-Corruption Layers, and Modular MonolithsTLDR: Large-scale modernization usually fails when teams try to replace an entire legacy platform in one synchronized rewrite. The safer approach is to create seams, translate old contracts into stabl13 min7Lambda Architecture Pattern: Balancing Batch Accuracy with Streaming FreshnessTLDR: Lambda architecture is justified when replay correctness and sub-minute freshness are both non-negotiable despite dual-path complexity.
TLDR: Lambda architecture is a fit only when you need bo14 min8Integration Architecture Patterns: Orchestration, Choreography, Schema Contracts, and Idempotent ReceiversTLDR: Integration failures usually come from weak contracts, unsafe retries, and missing ownership rather than from choosing the wrong transport. Orchestration, choreography, schema contracts, and ide15 min9Deployment Architecture Patterns: Blue-Green, Canary, Shadow Traffic, Feature Flags, and GitOpsTLDR: Release safety is an architecture capability, not just a CI/CD convenience. Blue-green, canary, shadow traffic, feature flags, and GitOps patterns exist to control blast radius, measure regressi13 min10Cloud Architecture Patterns: Cells, Control Planes, Sidecars, and Queue-Based Load LevelingTLDR: Cloud scale is not created by sprinkling managed services around a diagram. It comes from isolating failure domains, separating coordination from request serving, and smoothing bursty work befor16 min11Big Data Architecture Patterns: Lambda, Kappa, CDC, Medallion, and Data MeshTLDR: A serious data platform is defined less by where files are stored and more by how changes enter the system, how serving layers are materialized, and who owns quality over time. Lambda, Kappa, CD17 min12AI Architecture Patterns: Routers, Planner-Worker Loops, Memory Layers, and Evaluation GuardrailsTLDR: A single agent loop is enough for a demo, but production AI systems need explicit layers for routing, execution, memory, and evaluation. Those layers determine safety, latency, cost, and traceab14 min
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