Detailed Backpressure: Designing Stable, Flow-Controlled Systems
Introduction Backpressure is the set of techniques that keep a fast producer from overwhelming a slow consumer. It is how systems say “not so fast,” preserving stability, bounded memory, and predictable latency. Without it, you get congestion collapses, out-of-memory crashes, timeout storms, and cascading failures. This article takes a detailed, practical look at backpressure: what it is, why it matters, how it’s implemented from TCP to reactive libraries, and how to design apps that use it well. You’ll find mental models, algorithms, concrete code examples, operational guidance, and a checklist for building robust, flow-controlled systems. ...