Design a Collaborative Database / Spreadsheet Platform
Problem
Design Airtable's core: a collaborative database-spreadsheet hybrid with views, formulas, and real-time edits.
Requirements
Functional:
- Tables with typed columns, formulas, and views
- Real-time collaborative editing
- Filtered/sorted views over large tables
- Recompute formulas on change
Non-functional:
- Large bases, many collaborators
- Fast view rendering (virtualization)
- Real-time sync
Discussion points
- Storage model for typed records + formulas
- Dependency graph for recomputation
- Real-time sync (OT/CRDT)
- View materialization and virtualization for huge grids
- Permissions and multi-tenancy
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