Why cache at all?

While it introduces additional complexity for the developers who are responsible for implementing it, a well-designed caching strategy can improve application performance significantly. If your software relies heavily on network resources, maximizing your use of caches can save your users time in the form of faster performance, and your company money in the form of lower network overhead. However, knowing when to cache data, and when it would be inappropriate to do so, is not always intuitive for developers. So, when should you be leveraging a caching strategy, and why?

An ideal caching scenario

Suppose you have an application that builds reports based on quarterly sales numbers. Imagine it has to pull hundreds...