Builder Program Code for In-Memory Cache

• US 20170116125A1
• Filed: 10/26/2015
• Published: 04/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Sundaravaradan, Barathkumar, Wall, Christopher James, Lopez, Lawrence Thomas, Sydell, Paul, Duvur, Sreeram, Devadhar, Vijayanth
• Granted Patent: US 9,990,400 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0842 for multiprocessing or multitasking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0848 Partitioned cache, e.g. separate instruction and operand caches
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/123 with age lists, e.g. queue, most recently used [MRU] list or least recently used [LRU] list
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24552 Database cache management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/282 Partitioned cache

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed relating to an in-memory cache. In some embodiments, in response to determining that data for a requested entry is not present in the cache (e.g., because it has been evicted), a computing system is configured to invoke cached program code associated with the entry. In some embodiments, the computing system is configured to provide data generated by the program code in response to requests that indicate the entry. In some embodiments, the computing system is configured to store the generated data in the cache. In various embodiments, this may avoid cache misses and provide configurability in responding to requests to access the cache.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a computing system, a request to access cached data in an entry of an in-memory cache;

determining, by the computing system, that the data for the entry is not present in the cache;

invoking, by the computing system in response to the determining, cached program code associated with the entry; and

providing a response to the request, by the computing system, wherein the response includes data generated by the program code.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the entry and the cached program code are associated with a key that is specified by the request.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing the cached program code to query a database.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising de-serializing the cached program code.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, prior to the request to access cached data, a second request to allocate the entry in the in-memory cache, wherein the second request does not include data for the entry.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to the request to access cached data, evicting data from the entry in the in-memory cache.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the generated data in the in-memory cache.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising caching a modified version of the program code.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer instructions stored thereon that are capable of causing operations comprising:

receiving a request to access cached data in an entry of an in-memory cache;

determining that the data for the entry is not present in the cache;

invoking, in response to the determining, cached program code associated with the entry; and

providing a response to the request, wherein the response includes data generated by the program code.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a second request to access cached data in a second entry of the in-memory cache, wherein data for the second entry is present in the cache;

detecting an indication to invoke a builder pattern associated with the second entry;

invoking, in response to the detecting, cached second program code associated with the second entry; and

providing a response to the second request, wherein the response includes data generated by the second program code.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise de-serializing the cached program code and executing, after invocation of the cached program code, the de-serialized program code.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise receiving, prior to the request to access cached data, a request to put information in the entry in the in-memory cache, wherein the request to put does not include data for the entry.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise evicting data from the entry in the in-memory cache.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise storing the generated data in the in-memory cache.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer instructions stored thereon that are capable of causing operations comprising:

transmitting a request to store program code in association with an entry in an in-memory cache, wherein the program code is usable to generate data for the entry in the cache in response to determining that data for the entry is not stored in the in-memory cache.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising transmitting a request to update the stored program code.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the request specifies a key associated with the entry.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the request to store program code includes data to be cached in the entry, wherein the program code is usable to generate the data subsequent to eviction of the data from the entry.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

requesting data from the entry in the cache; and

receiving data in response to the request, wherein the data is generated by the program code.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the program code specifies a database access.