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The basic purpose is to store program instructions that are frequently re-referenced by software during operation.
The basic purpose of cache memory is to store program instructions that are frequently re-referenced by software during operation. Fast access to these instructions increases the overall speed of the software program.
As the microprocessor processes data, it looks first in the cache memory; if it finds the instructions there (from a previous reading of data), it does not have to do a more time-consuming reading of data from larger memory or other data storage devices.
Most programs use very few resources once they have been opened and operated for a time, mainly because frequently re-referenced instructions tend to be cached. This explains why measurements of system performance in computers with slower processors but larger caches tend to be faster than measurements of system performance in computers with faster processors but more limited cache space.
