Start by clarifying requirements and defining the core data model, then implement basic CRUD operations with a simple in-memory structure. Progressively extend the design to support directory listing, prefix-based size aggregation, and advanced features like quotas and copy/move, discussing trade-offs at each step.
Pro tip: Demonstrate foresight by designing for extensibility from the start—e.g., using a tree structure that naturally supports directories and prefixes—and explicitly discuss how your choices impact performance and scalability as features are added.
Ask questions to understand expected operations, data volume, concurrency needs, and performance constraints. Confirm whether the system is single-threaded or needs thread-safety.
Propose a data structure (e.g., a tree or a map with path keys) that supports create, read, update, and delete efficiently. Explain how you would implement each operation.
Describe how to list directory contents and compute total size for a given prefix. Discuss whether to maintain aggregated metadata (e.g., subtree sizes) for efficiency.
Explain how to enforce user quotas (e.g., track per-user usage) and implement copy/move operations, considering atomicity and consistency.
Discuss time/space complexity of operations, potential bottlenecks, and possible optimizations like caching, lazy aggregation, or concurrency control.
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