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Caching is an abstraction, not an optimization

(buttondown.com)
134 points samuel246 | 1 comments | 01 Jul 25 10:42 UTC | HN request time: 0.257s | source
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ckdot2 ◴[03 Jul 25 19:03 UTC] No.44458190[source]▶
"I think now caching is probably best understood as a tool for making software simpler" - that's cute. Caching might be beneficial for many cases, but if it doesn't do one thing then this is simplifying software. There's that famous quote "There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation and naming things.", and, sure, it's a bit ironical, but there's some truth in there.
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EGreg ◴[03 Jul 25 19:41 UTC] No.44458502[source]▶
I never understood about cache invalidation or naming things

Both are not that difficult, honestly.

Aren’t there a lot harder things out there

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1. gpderetta ◴[03 Jul 25 20:45 UTC] No.44459031[source]▶
Namings things is of course a bit tongue in cheek. But cache invalidation is hard. For example, allegedly MESI is one of the hardest things to validate in processor design.