LLM Caching Strategies: From Exact Match to Semantic Similarity

Introduction: LLM API calls are expensive and slow. Caching is your first line of defense against runaway costs and latency. But caching LLM responses isn’t straightforward—the same question phrased differently should return the same cached answer. This guide covers caching strategies for LLM applications: exact match caching for deterministic queries, semantic caching using embeddings for […]

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ML.NET for Custom AI Models: When to Use ML.NET vs Cloud APIs

Six months ago, I faced a critical decision: build a custom ML model with ML.NET or use cloud APIs. The project required real-time fraud detection with zero latency tolerance. Cloud APIs were too slow. ML.NET was the answer. But when should you use ML.NET vs cloud APIs? After building 15+ production ML systems, here’s what […]

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Architecting the Moment: Real-Time Data Processing in Modern Cloud Systems

After two decades of architecting data systems across financial services, healthcare, and e-commerce, I’ve witnessed the evolution from batch-only processing to today’s sophisticated real-time architectures. The shift isn’t just about speed—it’s about fundamentally changing how organizations make decisions and respond to events. This article shares battle-tested insights on building production-grade real-time data processing systems in […]

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Rate Limiting for LLM APIs: Token Buckets, Queues, and Adaptive Throttling

Introduction: LLM APIs have strict rate limits—requests per minute, tokens per minute, and concurrent request limits. Exceeding these limits results in 429 errors that can cascade through your application. Effective rate limiting on your side prevents hitting API limits, provides fair access across users, and enables graceful degradation under load. This guide covers practical rate […]

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Vector Embeddings Deep Dive: From Theory to Production Search Systems

Introduction: Vector embeddings are the foundation of modern AI applications—from semantic search to RAG systems to recommendation engines. They transform text, images, and other data into dense numerical representations that capture semantic meaning, enabling machines to understand similarity and relationships in ways that traditional keyword matching never could. This guide provides a deep dive into […]

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LLM Batch Processing: Scaling AI Workloads from Hundreds to Millions

Introduction: Processing thousands or millions of items through LLMs requires different patterns than single-request applications. Naive sequential processing is too slow, while uncontrolled parallelism hits rate limits and wastes money on retries. This guide covers production batch processing patterns: chunking strategies, parallel execution with rate limiting, progress tracking, checkpoint/resume for long jobs, cost estimation, and […]

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