Bounded-Buffer

From Unbounded to Bounded In the previous article, we explored the unbounded buffer pattern where the queue could grow infinitely. This works until you run out of memory! The bounded buffer adds a crucial constraint: maximum queue size. This introduces backpressure - when the buffer is full, producers must wait for consumers to catch up. Why Bounded Buffers Matter Bounded buffers appear everywhere in production systems: TCP sliding windows (flow control) HTTP/2 stream flow control (prevents overwhelm) Message queue limits (RabbitMQ, Kafka partition limits) Thread pool queues (bounded task queues) Rate limiters (token buckets with finite capacity) Circuit breakers (limit concurrent requests) The key benefit: Bounded buffers provide natural backpressure and prevent resource exhaustion. ...