Faststarting

Faststarting refers to a set of strategies and techniques aimed at reducing the time required for a system, application, or component to become usable after a power-up, reset, or deployment. The term is not tied to a single standard, and its precise meaning varies by domain.

In software and applications, faststarting may include preloading critical modules, parallel or asynchronous initialization, lazy loading of nonessential components, startup profiling, and aggressive caching. In web development, related concepts include resource prefetching, code-splitting, lazy loading, and service workers to speed the time to first interaction. In hardware and embedded systems, faststarting encompasses wake-from-sleep optimizations, power gating, and fast resume from hibernation.

In the operating systems domain, some features labeled as fast startup attempt to preserve state across reboots to avoid full initialization. Windows, for instance, introduced a fast startup mechanism that blends shutdown with hibernation to improve boot times; however, many discussions distinguish this feature as Fast Startup rather than faststarting.

Benefits of faststarting include shorter wait times for users and faster deployment cycles. Potential drawbacks include increased memory usage, added system complexity, stale cached data, and challenges ensuring security and correctness after rapid resumes. Effective faststarting requires measurement, clear ownership of initialization order, and strategies to invalidate or refresh cached state when necessary.

See also: cold start, warm start, fast startup, lazy loading.