22 Glossary
write
To record or store information to a storage device.
write-back
Also called copy back. A cache strategy where write operations to
data stored in the internal microprocessor L1 cache aren’t copied to
system memory until absolutely necessary. In contrast, a write-
through cache performs all write operations in parallel — data is
written to system memory and the L1 cache simultaneously. Write-
back caching yields somewhat better performance than write-through
caching because it reduces the number of write operations to main
memory. See cache and write-through.
write-through
Also write-thru. Write-through characterizes a cache strategy where
data is always written into system memory when data is written by
the CPU. See cache and write back.