Caching Fundamentals

Caching Basics

Understanding the fundamentals of caching systems.

1. Introduction to Caching

• What is caching
• Why caching is used
• Cache vs Storage
• Cache hit
• Cache miss
• Cache eviction

2. Caching Goals

• Performance improvement
• Latency reduction
• Reduced server load
• Scalability improvement

Cache Types

Different caching layers in modern applications.

3. Client-Side Caching

• Browser cache
• Memory cache
• Disk cache
• Service worker cache

4. Server-Side Caching

• Application cache
• Database query cache
• Object cache
• Page cache

5. Network Caching

• CDN caching
• Edge caching
• Reverse proxy cache

Cache Strategies

Patterns for implementing effective caching.

6. Cache Patterns

• Cache-aside (Lazy loading)
• Read-through cache
• Write-through cache
• Write-back (Write-behind)
• Refresh-ahead cache

7. Cache Granularity

• Full page caching
• Fragment caching
• Data-level caching

Cache Invalidation

Keeping cached data consistent and fresh.

8. Invalidation Strategies

• Time-based expiration (TTL)
• Event-based invalidation
• Versioning
• Manual invalidation

9. Cache Consistency

• Strong consistency
• Eventual consistency
• Stale data handling

Cache Policies & Algorithms

Decision-making for cache management.

10. Eviction Policies

• FIFO
• LRU
• LFU
• MRU
• Random replacement

11. Replacement Considerations

• Memory limits
• Access patterns
• Hot vs cold data

Web Caching (Frontend Important)

HTTP and browser caching for web applications.

12. HTTP Caching

• Cache-Control headers
• Expires header
• ETag
• Last-Modified
• Validation requests

13. Browser Caching Behavior

• Fresh vs stale cache
• Revalidation
• Private vs public cache

Distributed Caching

Caching in large-scale distributed systems.

14. Distributed Cache Concepts

• Cache clustering
• Cache sharding
• Replication

15. Cache Failures

• Cache stampede
• Cache avalanche
• Cache penetration

Performance Optimization

Optimizing caching for maximum performance.

16. CDN Concepts

• Edge locations
• Geo caching
• Cache warming
• Cache purging

17. Compression & Caching

• Gzip
• Brotli
• Asset fingerprinting

Production-Level Caching

Real-world caching architectures and patterns.

18. Multi-Level Caching

• Browser → CDN → Server → Database cache
• Cache layer coordination
• Cache invalidation at scale

19. Caching in Microservices

• API response caching
• BFF caching
• Gateway caching

20. Observability

• Cache hit ratio
• Cache latency
• Cache monitoring