intermediate · memory
What Is a Cache Line?
What is a cache line, and why should an application engineer care about one?
Practical scenario
A code review proposes padding a hot counter struct to 64 bytes. A reviewer asks what a cache line is and why the padding is worth the memory.
What it tests
- • Knowledge that memory moves in blocks rather than variables
- • Whether the candidate connects the line to concrete software consequences
- • Understanding that the line is also the unit of coherence