Design CricInfo
Design a system like Cricinfo that provides live cricket scores, match details, player statistics, and historical data updates in real-time.
Cricinfo (officially ESPNcricinfo) is a comprehensive online platform dedicated to cricket. It provides live scores, ball-by-ball commentary, match schedules, team and player statistics, and news related to cricket matches.
In this chapter, we will explore the low-level design of cricinfo like service.
Let's start by clarifying the requirements:
1. Clarifying Requirements
Before starting the design, it's important to ask thoughtful questions to uncover hidden assumptions, clarify ambiguities, and define the system's scope more precisely.
Here is an example of how a conversation between the candidate and the interviewer might unfold:
Candidate: Should we support different match formats like ODI, T20, and Test?
Interviewer: Yes, the system should support multiple match formats.
Candidate: Should the system just show the overall score, or should it provide detailed ball-by-ball commentary?
Interviewer: It should be detailed. Users should be able to follow a match ball-by-ball.
Candidate: How does this live data get into our system? Should we design an admin interface to input match data, or can we assume we are consuming a feed from a third-party provider?
Interviewer: Let's assume there is a reliable, official third-party API that pushes ball-by-ball data to our system. For this version, we can hardcode a series of match events.
Candidate: Should the system maintain historical data like past matches, player stats, and records?
Interviewer: Yes, users should be able to browse historical data for players, teams, and matches.
Candidate: Should the system display commentary and real-time score updates?
Interviewer: Yes, real-time updates and ball-by-ball commentary are essential features of the system.
Candidate: Should the system allow tracking multiple matches simultaneously?
Interviewer: Yes, the system should support concurrent matches.
Candidate: Should users be able to receive notifications for key match events like wickets, boundaries, or player milestones?
Interviewer: Yes, the system should allow users to subscribe to a match and receive notifications for important events.
After gathering the details, we can summarize the key system requirements.
1.1 Functional Requirements
- Support multiple match formats: Test, ODI, and T20
- System should be able to track the stats of all players, teams, and matches.
- The system should be able to track all scores or wickets that occurred for each ball.
- The system should provide ball-by-ball live commentary for ongoing matches.
- Allow users to follow multiple live matches simultaneously
- Support viewing of team compositions, player profiles, and records
1.2 Non-Functional Requirements
- Modularity: The system should be composed of well-separated components
- Extensibility: The system should be extensible to support future features
- Maintainability: Code should follow object-oriented principles and be easy to test, debug, and extend