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Hectal
Phase 0Beginner1 of 18 in Database Design

Foundations and the Design Mindset

What a database actually does, the workload types that shape every design (OLTP, OLAP, HTAP, read-heavy, write-heavy), and the requirements-first framework used for the rest of the course.

A database designer doesn't start by choosing PostgreSQL, MongoDB or Cassandra. They start with the data, how it will be accessed, what guarantees it needs, how big it gets, and what failures it must survive. Only then do they pick an architecture.

This phase builds that habit. Every later phase plugs into the framework introduced in Topic 0.3.

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3 topics ~25 min 4 code blocks & diagrams
Start with the first topic
1
0.1

What a Database Actually Does

A database management system stores data durably, answers queries over it, and lets many clients change it concurrently without corrupting it. Inside, a query engine turns SQL into a plan and a storage engine turns the plan into page reads and writes; relational and NoSQL systems make different choices at each layer.

9 min 1 diagram 1 code practice

2
0.2

Workloads: OLTP, OLAP, HTAP and Their Shapes

OLTP runs many small, latency-sensitive transactions on a few rows each; OLAP scans and aggregates millions of rows for analysis; HTAP tries to do both on one system. Classifying a workload as read-heavy or write-heavy, latency- or throughput-oriented, interactive or batch drives every later decision.

8 min 1 code practice

3
0.3

The Golden Database Design Framework

Design in a fixed order: requirements → entities → relationships → access patterns → consistency and transaction needs → scale → data model → database choice → indexes → queries → caching → replication → partitioning → sharding → backup/DR → security → observability → cost → failure handling → trade-offs. Choosing the database comes in the middle, not the start.

8 min 1 diagram practice