Daily iOS
Persistence

Server sync design

You need to sync a notes app's local database with the server. Downloading everything each time is slow and burns data. How would you design a delta sync protocol?

How would an interviewer hear this answer? You'll see whether they'd move on, dig in, or say no, and which sentences would trip you up. Your score doesn't change.
See the short answer

You take only the changes after a server cursor (a change sequence) and store the new cursor. You apply them so the transaction and the cursor update are atomic, which makes a partial failure safe.

Share a question