ratocache

ratocache is a software project that provides a distributed, in-memory caching system. It is designed to improve the performance of applications by storing frequently accessed data in RAM, thereby reducing the need to fetch data from slower persistent storage or perform expensive computations repeatedly. The system is written in C++ and emphasizes low latency and high throughput.

The core concept behind ratocache is its distributed nature. Multiple instances of the ratocache server can be run across different machines in a cluster, forming a shared cache. This allows for horizontal scaling and fault tolerance. Data is distributed across these nodes using consistent hashing, ensuring that cache lookups are efficient and that adding or removing nodes has minimal impact on data availability.

ratocache supports various data structures beyond simple key-value pairs, including lists, sets, and sorted sets. This flexibility allows developers to implement more complex caching strategies. The system also offers features like time-to-live (TTL) for cache entries, eviction policies (such as Least Recently Used - LRU), and atomic operations, which are crucial for maintaining data consistency in distributed environments.

Clients interact with ratocache through a network protocol. The project provides client libraries for several programming languages, simplifying integration into existing applications. The design aims to be lightweight and efficient, making it suitable for high-performance computing scenarios and microservices architectures where rapid data retrieval is essential.