FIFO Entry Cache

FIFO Entry Caches use a FIFO queue to keep track of the cached entries.

Entries that have been in the cache the longest are the most likely candidates for purging if space is needed. In contrast to other cache structures, the selection of entries to purge is not based on how frequently or recently the entries have been accessed. This requires significantly less locking (it will only be required when an entry is added or removed from the cache, rather than each time an entry is accessed). Cache sizing is based on the percentage of free memory within the JVM, such that if enough memory is free, then adding an entry to the cache will not require purging, but if more than a specified percentage of the available memory within the JVM is already consumed, then one or more entries will need to be removed in order to make room for a new entry. It is also possible to configure a maximum number of entries for the cache. If this is specified, then the number of entries will not be allowed to exceed this value, but it may not be possible to hold this many entries if the available memory fills up first. Other configurable parameters for this cache include the maximum length of time to block while waiting to acquire a lock, and a set of filters that may be used to define criteria for determining which entries are stored in the cache. If a filter list is provided, then only entries matching at least one of the given filters will be stored in the cache.