
Your computer uses old memory from an older downloaded browser cache version, so you’ll only see your website’s older version. The reason is that every time you make a change to your website or to the CSS (cascading style sheets), you won’t see how the new changes look without clearing the cache. So what happens when you don’t clear your cache? If you’re a web developer or a website owner, you’ll want to clear cache every so often. It’s not as smart as the previous strategy mentioned, as it just randomly deletes an item from your cache when it’s full. It’s an easy strategy however, you need to keep track of when items in your cache were least recently used.Īnother method of deleting cache you don’t need is called Random Replacement. Deleting cache you’ve not used in a while is called LRU (Least recently used). So what to do if your cache is full? Cache eviction strategy you might think about which books you’re not reading and return them to the library to clear some space. You can’t have an unlimited amount of books on your desk, that won’t do. Just as in a library, your cache space is limited.
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For example, a website’s logo is unlikely to change in the near future, so it makes sense that your cache would download and store the logo to load faster next time. It’s right in front of you, and you don’t have to make the trip every time you need to read something.Īs previously mentioned, cache downloads the data it needs the first time you visit a website to make it a smoother ride when you revisit the website. In this analogy, your home is the cache even more particular, the desk you’ve put your book on is the cache. You could go to the library to read the book every time you need to reference the text in your paper, or you could borrow the book and take it home with you for faster access. You need to go to the library and read through a book you’ve heard about.

Think of cache like this: imagine you’re writing your thesis paper, and you need to research the topic you’re writing about.

Once a copy of the website is downloaded and stored, the next time you revisit the same website, it will load faster.Įxamples of data it stores are images, videos, scripts and other technical stuff, resulting in an optimised loading time.įor this reason, the meaning of cache is a collection of items stored in a hidden place. People clear cache, for example, when they want to troubleshoot a website or when they want the newest version of a website.īut what is cache? Well, every time you visit a website like you’re doing just now on one.com, your browser downloads a copy of the website and stores the data on your computer’s hard drive. If you’ve ever heard the phrase clear your history on your computer, you’ve probably also heard the phrase clear your cache. The browser can simply display what it stored last time, instead of having to fetch the website files again. Website caching means that your browser stores the files of a website you’re visiting, so that it can be accessed quicker on the next visit.
