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ALSO: Service Discovery in Distributed Systems

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InstaByte
March 19, 2025

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Most people find problems that require bit manipulation very hard. In this week’s coding challenge, we’ll learn a very clever bitwise operator trick. Are you ready?

Today we will cover:

  • Number of 1 Bits

  • Service Discovery in Distributed Systems

Read time: under 4 minutes

CODING CHALLENGE

Number of 1 Bits

Given a positive integer n, write a function that returns the number of set bits in its binary representation (also known as the Hamming weight).

Example 1:

Input: n = 11
Output: 3
Explanation:
The input binary string 1011 has a total of three set bits.

Example 2:

Input: n = 2147483645
Output: 30
Explanation:
The input binary string 1111111111111111111111111111101 has a total of thirty set bits.

Solve the problem here before reading the solution.

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SOLUTION

To count the number of set bits (1s) in a binary number, we can use Brian Kernighan's algorithm. This algorithm uses a clever trick: n & (n-1) always flips the rightmost set bit of n to 0. By repeatedly doing this operation and counting how many times we need to do it until n becomes 0, we get the number of set bits.

The time complexity is O(k) where k is the number of set bits in the number. This is more efficient than checking each bit one by one which would take O(32) for a 32-bit integer.

SYSTEM DESIGN

Service Discovery in Distributed Systems

In modern distributed systems, applications are split into multiple services running on different servers. When Service A needs to talk to Service B, it needs to know Service B's network location (IP address and port). But maintaining a static list of service locations becomes a nightmare when you have hundreds of services that frequently change locations.

Service Discovery solves this problem by providing a way for services to find each other automatically. Instead of hardcoding network locations, services register themselves with a service registry when they start up. When Service A needs to talk to Service B, it asks the registry for Service B's location.

Let's look at how service discovery works:

  1. When a service starts, it registers itself with the registry, providing its name and network location.

  2. The registry regularly checks if registered services are still alive through health checks.

  3. When one service needs to call another, it queries the registry to get the target service's location.

  4. If a service goes down, it's removed from the registry so other services don't try to call it.

There are two main approaches to service discovery:

Client-side Discovery means the client (Service A) directly queries the registry to find Service B. This gives more control to the client but requires each service to include service discovery logic.

Server-side Discovery uses a load balancer that sits between services. The client sends requests to the load balancer, which then queries the registry and forwards the request to an available instance. This simplifies the client code but adds another component to maintain.

Popular service discovery tools include:

  • Netflix Eureka: Built for AWS, works well with Spring Boot

  • Consul: Features strong consistency and DNS interface

  • ZooKeeper: One of the oldest, used by many large companies

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NEWS

This Week in the Tech World

Google Assistant replaced by Gemini: Google is retiring its voice Assistant and replacing it with Gemini AI across mobile devices, tablets, cars, and smart home gadgets. The transition will occur over the coming months, with potential subscription fees for AI features in the future.

Jack Dorsey's Goose AI takes flight: Block's open-source AI assistant Goose is gaining traction with developers, reaching nearly 10,000 GitHub stars in just six weeks. The tool allows for "vibe coding" and is being used beyond engineering for sales analysis and content management.

Nvidia Unveils New AI Chips: Nvidia announced Blackwell Ultra chips shipping later this year and Vera Rubin GPUs coming in 2026 at its GTC conference. This marks Nvidia's shift to annual chip releases, accelerated by the AI boom. CEO Jensen Huang says computational requirements are "hyper-accelerating."

Google launches Gemini Robotics: Google DeepMind has unveiled two AI models for robotics - Gemini Robotics and Gemini Robotics-ER. These models help robots perform unfamiliar tasks like spelling words with tiles or dunking a basketball, bringing Google closer to developing "general purpose robotics.

Klarna files for US IPO: Buy now, pay later lender Klarna has filed for a US IPO under the ticker KLAR. The Swedish company, valued at $6.7 billion in its last funding round, reported $2.8 billion in revenue for 2023, up 24%, and returned to profitability with $181 million in adjusted operating profit.

Alphabet spins off Taara: Alphabet has spun off its light-based internet project Taara as an independent company. The technology uses lasers to transmit data between tower-mounted terminals, promising 10-100 times more bandwidth than Starlink at a fraction of the cost for rural connectivity.

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