A URL shortener sounds like one of the simplest backend systems to build. Take a long URL: https://example.com/articles/distributed-systems/introduction Generate a short code: https://short.ly/aB7xK2p Store the mapping, and redirect anyone who visits the short URL. Three operations. One database table. A few API endpoints. So why is URL Shortener System Design such a useful distributed systems interview problem? Because generating the short URL is rarely the difficult...