Design for storing chemicals with their constituents in an efficiently retrievable format.
MediumLet's imagine we're building a system for managing chemical compounds and their constituent elements. Think of a massive database containing various chemicals, each composed of different elements in specific proportions. Our goal is to design a system that allows us to efficiently store, retrieve, and search for chemicals based on their composition.
For example, we need to be able to:
- Find all chemicals containing a certain percentage of Carbon.
- Find all chemicals that are primarily (e.g., > 50%) composed of Oxygen.
- Retrieve the full composition (all elements and their percentages) of a specific chemical.
- Handle updates to the chemical database (adding new chemicals, modifying existing ones).
- Ensure that the data remains consistent even under concurrent access from multiple users or processes. This means we should implement thread-safe operations.
We want a solution that's not only functional and efficient but also maintainable, extensible, and robust. The challenge is to balance efficiency with a clean, well-structured design. The system might be used in a scientific research environment, a chemical manufacturing plant, or a regulatory agency. This LLD problem aims to evaluate your ability to apply OOD principles, design patterns, and concurrency control mechanisms to create a performant and reliable system.
Requirements
Interview Simulation
Experience a realistic interview conversation. The interviewer will ask clarifying questions,and you'll reveal your understanding of the requirements.
Let's start by understanding the scope. What are the core functionalities this system needs to provide?
💡 Interview Tip
Identify the Actors (Who uses the system?) and their Use Cases (What are they trying to achieve?). Start with the 'Happy Path' scenarios.