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Cache hierarchy, or multi-level cache, is a memory architecture that uses a hierarchy of memory stores based on varying access speeds to cache data. Highly requested data is cached in high-speed access memory stores, allowing swifter access by central processing unit (CPU) cores.
Diagram of a CPU memory cache operation. In computing, a cache (/ k æ ʃ / ⓘ KASH) [1] is a hardware or software component that stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster; the data stored in a cache might be the result of an earlier computation or a copy of data stored elsewhere.
Memory hierarchy affects performance in computer architectural design, algorithm predictions, and lower level programming constructs involving locality of reference. Designing for high performance requires considering the restrictions of the memory hierarchy, i.e. the size and capabilities of each component.
Some programming languages (such as C) allow the programmer to suggest that certain variables be kept in registers. Data locality is a typical memory reference feature of regular programs (though many irregular memory access patterns exist). It makes the hierarchical memory layout profitable.
In computing, a memory access pattern or IO access pattern is the pattern with which a system or program reads and writes memory on secondary storage.These patterns differ in the level of locality of reference and drastically affect cache performance, [1] and also have implications for the approach to parallelism [2] [3] and distribution of workload in shared memory systems. [4]
Processor performance increase due to cache hierarchy depends on the number of accesses to the cache that satisfy block requests from the cache (cache hits) versus those that do not. Unsuccessful attempts to read or write data from the cache (cache misses) result in lower level or main memory access, which increases latency.
A CPU cache is a hardware cache used by the central processing unit (CPU) of a computer to reduce the average cost (time or energy) to access data from the main memory. [1] A cache is a smaller, faster memory, located closer to a processor core, which stores copies of the data from frequently used main memory locations.
Data structure alignment is the way data is arranged and accessed in computer memory. It consists of three separate but related issues: data alignment , data structure padding , and packing . The CPU in modern computer hardware performs reads and writes to memory most efficiently when the data is naturally aligned , which generally means that ...