Data Structure Design: Building an LRU Cache in C++

Efficient data retrieval is at the heart of high-performance software engineering, and caching is one of the most powerful tools available to developers. This course guides you through the fundamental principles of caching, focusing on how to design and build a Least Recently Used (LRU) cache from scratch. You will transition from understanding basic memory concepts to writing clean, optimized code that handles data storage and eviction policies. By completing this course, you will understand how to balance time and space complexity to achieve constant-time performance for critical cache operations. What you'll learn: - Understand the foundational concepts of caching, memory hierarchy, and eviction policies - Design the underlying data structures using a combination of doubly linked lists and hash maps - Implement efficient Set and Get operations to retrieve and update cached data in constant time - Apply modern C++ practices including smart pointers and robust memory management - Analyze runtime and space complexity to ensure optimal performance under heavy workloads The course begins with essential theoretical definitions and structural design decisions before guiding you through step-by-step code implementation and testing scenarios. This course is designed for beginner to intermediate C++ programmers who want to deepen their understanding of custom data structures and system-level performance. No prior caching experience is required. Start building high-performance data structures today.