Bounded Queues and Backpressure
A bounded queue makes overload visible. Its capacity and full-queue policy determine memory use, delay, loss, and how pressure propagates upstream.
Planned model
Vary producer and consumer rates while plotting occupancy, queueing delay, dropped work, blocked producers, and batch size.
Questions
- Does a full queue block, reject, overwrite, or shed lower-value work?
- How does capacity affect burst tolerance and worst-case residence time?
- Where should backpressure terminate?
Exercise
Choose a capacity and overload policy for a pipeline with a stated burst size and latency budget.