Caching Strategies
Caching strategies are systematic approaches for storing and retrieving frequently accessed data in temporary storage (cache) to improve application performance and reduce load on primary data sources. They define rules for cache population, invalidation, and consistency, balancing speed gains with data freshness. Common strategies include cache-aside, write-through, write-behind, and time-to-live (TTL) policies.
Developers should learn caching strategies to optimize high-traffic applications, such as web services, APIs, and databases, where latency and scalability are critical. They are essential for reducing response times, lowering server costs, and handling spikes in user demand, particularly in e-commerce, social media, and real-time systems. Proper strategy selection prevents stale data issues and ensures efficient resource usage.