Cache-Oblivious Algorithms and Data Structures

Frigo, Leiserson, Prokop and Ramachandran in 1999 introduced the ideal-cache model as a formal model of computation for developing algorithms in environments with multiple levels of caching, and coined the terminology of cache-oblivious algorithms. Cache-oblivious algorithms are described as standard RAM algorithms with only one memory level, i.e. without any knowledge about memory hierarchies, but are analyzed in the two-level I/O model of Aggarwal and Vitter for an arbitrary memory and block size and an optimal off-line cache replacement strategy. The result are algorithms that automatically apply to multi-level memory hierarchies. This paper gives an overview of the results achieved on cache-oblivious algorithms and data structures since the seminal paper by Frigo et al.