System Design Round : Design IRCTC , how does IRCTC reserve a seat? What kind of locking do they use?

Question

Accepted Answer

IRCTC reserves seats using a complex system of availability checks and booking processes.

IRCTC uses a combination of real-time availability checks and booking processes to reserve seats.
The system checks for availability of seats in real-time and reserves them for a short period of time while the booking process is completed.
IRCTC uses a locking mechanism to ensure that the same seat is not booked by multiple users at the same time.
The locking mechanism is based on a first-come, first-served basis, where the first user to initiate the booking process gets the seat.
IRCTC also uses a waitlist system to manage bookings when seats are not available, and users are added to the waitlist in the order in which they initiate the booking process.

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