Q1: What is the primary goal of the Amazon system from a software engineering perspective?

A:

The primary goal is to design a scalable, secure, and user-friendly e-commerce platform where users can browse products, place orders, and make payments. The system should ensure smooth interaction between multiple actors like customers, sellers, and administrators while handling real-time inventory updates, order processing, and payment integration.

Q2: What are the key modules that make up the Amazon system?

A:

The Amazon system typically consists of the following modules:

1. User Management Module – for authentication, profile management
2. Product Management Module – to list, update, and search products
3. Cart & Order Module – for adding items, checkout, and placing orders
4. Payment Gateway Integration – to handle online payments securely
5. Review and Rating Module – allowing customers to provide feedback
6. Admin Panel – for system monitoring and moderation
7. Logistics/Delivery Module – tracking and managing deliveries

Q3: How does Amazon handle multiple roles like Customers, Sellers, and Admins?

A:

The system is built with an inheritance structure where all users inherit from a base User class. Role-specific features are added through derived classes:

• Customer can add items to a cart, place orders, and write reviews.
• Seller can manage products, view sales, and fulfill orders.
• Admin has full control over user approvals, content moderation, and platform monitoring.

Q4: What types of relationships exist between the main entities in the Amazon class diagram?

A:

The system uses various relationships such as:

• Association: Between Customer and Cart, Order and Product
• Aggregation: A Cart “has-a” collection of CartItems
• Composition: An Order “owns” its OrderItems, and deletion of an Order implies deletion of its items
• Inheritance: User is inherited by Customer, Seller, and Admin

Q5: How is payment handled and verified in the system?

A:

Payments are processed using third-party gateways integrated through secure APIs. Once the customer checks out and confirms the order, the Payment class handles the transaction using stored or provided payment methods (like credit cards, UPI, etc.). The system must verify payment success before generating an invoice and updating the order status.

Q6: What kind of security measures should be considered in Amazon’s backend system?

A:

Security is critical for an e-commerce platform. Important measures include:

• User Authentication and Authorization (e.g., OAuth2, JWT)
• SSL/TLS Encryption for data in transit
• Secure Payment Handling with PCI-DSS compliance
• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) for restricting access
• Input Validation to prevent SQL Injection or XSS
• Audit Logs for all critical activities

Q7: How does Amazon ensure scalability and performance?

A:

Amazon handles large-scale operations by:

• Using microservices architecture
• Implementing load balancers
• Deploying horizontal scaling across servers
• Using caching systems like Redis or Memcached
• Storing data in NoSQL (for products) and SQL (for transactions)
• Using CDNs (Content Delivery Networks) to serve static content faster

Q8: Can the system support international customers and sellers? How?

A:

Yes, the system is built to support globalization. This is done by:

• Localization of language, currency, and tax formats
• Time-zone awareness for deliveries and operations
• International shipping logic in delivery modules
• Custom pricing and offers based on geographic regions
• Multi-language support on the UI layer