When preparing for software engineering or system design interviews, networking concepts often come up in subtle but important ways. Whether it’s choosing between REST, gRPC, or GraphQL, explaining how HTTP/3 improves performance, or troubleshooting latency issues in a distributed system, understanding the fundamentals can help you stand out. Let’s break down the key topics we discussed into an easy-to-digest guide. 1. OSI Model: The Foundation of Networking The OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) model is a conceptual framework that divides networking into seven layers, each with distinct responsibilities: ...