Question

Contrast caching and buffering and provide an example of when it would be appropriate to use each technique.

Answer 1

Caching and buffering both holds data for a temporary period but both are different from each other.

Here differences between buffering and caching are stated:

Definition:

Buffering: Buffering is an action which preloads the data into a reserved area of memory. The reserved area is called a buffer. Buffering matches the speed between sender and receiver of a data stream.

Caching: Caching is used to fasten the access speed of a repeatedly used data. The operating system stores the repeatedly used data in a reserved area of the memory called cache memory.

Storage:

Buffering: Buffer stores the original copy of the data. During buffering, the user gets the original data.

Caching: Cache stores a copy of the original data. In caching, the user accesses the copy of the original data for faster access time.

Speed:

A cache is a high-speed storage area.

Buffer is a normal storage area on RAM.

Use Case:

A cache is mostly used to reading and writing processes from disk.

Buffer is mostly used for Input/Output (I/O).

Example when it would be appropriate to use each technique:

Buffering: During the correction of typing mistake buffer can be used. Keyboard buffer is a small area in RAM (Random Access Memory) which is used to store the keystrokes before proceeding by the CPU.

Caching: A repeatedly accessed file can be stored in cache memory for fastening the access time. As searching from the hard drive can be time-consuming.