Ask HN: Anyone who knows where to learn about designing scalable apps from?

#1

Post by vaibkv » Tue, May 31, 2016, 8:46 AM UTC

I've been meaning to learn (through hands-on) about designing websites like amazon, etc. So I needed to find a course that taught something like that through exercises (note that I could not find a good book that taught something like this through exercises!). I found MIT OCW's 6.171 ( http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-171-software-engineering-for-web-applications-fall-2003/index.htm ) Has anyone completed this course earlier? How would you rate it? Also, this course is from 2003 so I am not sure would if it would be a good fit in today's times? I'd like to know and I'd very much appreciate the thoughts on this and on how to learn about designing such applications through a hands-on course or book. So, please let me know your thoughts on this, any resources you know about!

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanking in anticipation.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone who knows where to learn about designing scalable apps from?

#2

Post by herbst » Tue, May 31, 2016, 11:34 AM UTC

What are you trying to reach? For something rather general like this i would strongly avoid reading any books older than a few years. 2003 is VERY OLD by it standards.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone who knows where to learn about designing scalable apps from?

#3

Post by pritambarhate » Tue, May 31, 2016, 12:37 PM UTC

http://highscalability.com/blog/category/example

Basically reading how all these scalable systems are built, helped me a lot. Yes they only give you pointers. Then you can research more on those pointers and learn how to actually use these things in your own apps.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone who knows where to learn about designing scalable apps from?

#4

Post by vaibkv » Tue, May 31, 2016, 2:44 PM UTC

pritambarhate wrote: post #3

http://highscalability.com/blog/category/example Basically reading how all these scalable systems are built, helped me a lot. Yes they only give you pointers. Then you can research more on those pointers and learn how to actually use these things in your own apps.

Yes, thank you for your response. Yes, I know about highscalability.com and such websites but the overview they give is very high level. I am looking to build something similar to the 6.171 MIT course - really hands on and concrete.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone who knows where to learn about designing scalable apps from?

#5

Post by vaibkv » Tue, May 31, 2016, 5:06 PM UTC

herbst wrote: post #2

What are you trying to reach? For something rather general like this i would strongly avoid reading any books older than a few years. 2003 is VERY OLD by it standards.

I am trying to reach a point where I can say - "Hey! Look I've designed this highly scalable website" to satiate my own hunger for this knowledge. And I know that one can't possible cover all (and maybe not even a lot) scalability topics while designing such a site but at least it would give me a solid start - something I can build on later on. Yes, I understand 2003 is very old and hence the question - does someone know something similar to MIT 6.171 that's more recent or if that course has been updated. Also, thanks for your reply :)