Explain negative caching and its risks. Where is it useful?

Problem Statement

Explanation

Negative caching stores the fact that a lookup returned no result to shield the database from repeated misses. Use short TTLs so real new data appears soon. It is useful for user handles, feature flags, or sparse entities where misses dominate. The risk is hiding recent inserts or fixes, so bound TTL tightly and add explicit invalidation on create.

Code Solution

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cache.set("user:handle:foo", null, 30s)  // miss remembered for 30s

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Caching in System Design

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Explain negative caching and its risks. Where is it useful?

Problem Statement

Explanation

Code Solution

Practice Sets

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Master Interviews Anywhere, Anytime

Explain negative caching and its risks. Where is it useful?

Problem Statement

Explanation

Code Solution

Practice Sets

Related Questions

Which statement best describes the Single Responsibility Principle?

Open–Closed Principle encourages what practice when adding features?

High-Level Design (HLD) typically focuses on which artifacts?

Which UML diagram best captures interactions over time between components?

Which pairing describes a healthy design goal?

More from System Design

Master Interviews
Anywhere, Anytime