Level Up Coding

Database Indexing Explained Most databases require some form of indexing to keep up with performance benchmarks. Searching through a database is much simpler when the data is correctly indexed, which improves the system's overall performance. A database index is a lot like…

How the most popular deployment strategies work (explained in 2 mins or less): Each stands out for specific strengths. • Blue/Green for safety and zero downtime. • Canary for controlled, low-risk rollouts. • Rolling for maintaining continuous operations. • Feature Toggles…

HTTP 2 vs HTTP 3: What's the Difference? • 1996 → HTTP 1 • 1997 → HTTP 1.1 • 2015 → HTTP 2 • 2022 → HTTP 3 But what’s the difference? Starting at the foundation: 🔹 𝗛𝗧𝗧𝗣 𝟭.𝟭: ✓ 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: Reuses connections instead of opening…

🚨BREAKING: Open Source now rivals closed AI coding tools. (No.1 on OpenRouter, 13k stars, built by GitLab founder): We now have an open-source coding agent that can compete with proprietary tools. • 500+ available models • No markups on model API pricing • Pay only for…

The main components of Kubernetes explained. At its core, Kubernetes is built on a handful of key components, each with a distinct role. By understanding them, you'll have a strong foundational understanding. 𝗡𝗼𝗱𝗲: ↳ Machines (physical or virtual) that run containerized…

API performance techniques (explained in under 2 mins): API inefficiencies not only degrade the user experience but also increase operational costs through increased resource consumption and downtime. Here are 5 popular solutions to improve API performance: •…

Must-know principles of solution architecture design (explained in under 2 mins): 𝟳 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 for designing solutions: 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 ↳ High availability…

How AI-native databases work (explained in under 2 mins): An AI-native database is one that can: • Store long-term agent memory/state • Handle time (event + time-series data) • Enable parallel experiments in sandboxes • Understand meaning (semantic/vector/hybrid search)…

If you want to get started with system design, learn these 15 concepts: 1) How JWT Works: ↳ lucode.co/json-web-token… 2) Idempotency in API Design: ↳ lucode.co/idempotency-in… 3) SQL vs NoSQL: ↳ lucode.co/sql-vs-nosql-l… 4) Service Discovery in Distributed Systems: ↳…

If you want to scale a database, consider these strategies: 𝟭 ) 𝗖𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 ↳ One of the simplest improvements you can make to handle database load. Reduce load by caching frequently requested query results. Tools like Redis or Memcached store…

Stateful vs stateless design (explained in under 2 mins): Stateless design is a powerful model that has led to the development of simple yet highly scalable and efficient applications. “State” refers to stored information that systems use to process requests. This information…

A big moment for Postgres.

API gateway vs load balancer (explained in 2 mins or less): An 𝗔𝗣𝗜 𝗚𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘄𝗮𝘆 acts as a single entry point for clients, handling request routing, composition, and protocol translation. It simplifies client interactions with microservices and offers features like rate…

How SSH works (explained in 2 mins or less): SSH (Secure Shell) is a network protocol used to securely connect to remote machines over an unsecured network. It ensures confidentiality, integrity, and authentication for remote access, file transfers, and command execution,…

Concurrency vs parallelism (explained in 2 mins or less): Parallelism and concurrency are two terms that often create confusion. One is about managing multiple tasks at once, intermixing them to optimize resource usage. The other involves executing multiple tasks…

If I had to build auth, here's what I'd consider: Building auth properly means you need to: 1) Integrate with OAuth providers 2) Build signup, password reset, CAPTCHA flows 3) Support SAML, SSO, account recovery 4) Implement rate-limiting and 2FA 5) Detect fraud and secure…

API Gateway vs Load Balancer vs Reverse Proxy (explained in under 2 mins): • Load Balancer ↳ Distributes incoming traffic across multiple servers to ensure reliability and performance. • Reverse Proxy ↳ Sits in front of servers, forwarding requests while hiding server…

REST API vs GraphQL. Benefits and challenges of: 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗧 🔹 Scalability Its stateless nature allows REST services to handle a large volume of requests and horizontally scale with ease. 🔹 Simplicity and flexibility Leveraging standard HTTP methods, makes it easy to…

How do we design effective and safe APIs? APIs have increasingly become the backbone of modern software. To understand some of the key principles and best practices of API design, Let's analyze a social media platform example: 🔹 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 ↳ Clarity is…

6 Software architecture patterns you should know. Choosing the right architecture isn’t about following trends. It’s about aligning with your application’s needs, your team’s expertise, and long-term scalability and maintainability. And it's one of the biggest decisions you'll…

How CI/CD pipelines work (explained in 2 mins or less): A CI/CD pipeline is an automated workflow that facilitates continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery or deployment (CD) by managing code building, testing, and release processes. It integrates the various stages…