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mediumSystem Design

What is backpressure and how do you handle it?

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01

Understand the problem

Explain backpressure.

backpressure
02

Attempt it yourself

Sketch your approach before reading the solution — that's what interviews test.

Nudge consolestandby

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03

Study the solution

Step 1: Outline use cases and constraints

Gather requirements and scope the problem. Ask questions to clarify use cases and constraints. Discuss assumptions.

Use cases

We'll scope the problem to handle only the following use cases

  • User needs to understand backpressure to make architecture deci

Solution ready — 2 min read

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04

Read the code

Bounded queue applies backpressure
Run Playground
import queue, threading, time

q = queue.Queue(maxsize=3)         # bounded -> put() blocks when full

def consumer():
    while True:
        job = q.get()
        if job is None:
            break
        print("  processing", job)
        time.sleep(0.04)           # slow worker
        q.task_done()

threading.Thread(target=consumer, daemon=True).start()

for i in range(1, 7):
    q.put(i)                       # BLOCKS when full -> natural backpressure
    print("enqueued", i)
q.join()
print("done")
05

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