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A theoretical comparison of LRU and LRU-K

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Abstract

The paging algorithm Least Recently Used Second Last Request (LRU-2) was proposed for use in database disk buffering and shown experimentally to perform better than Least Recently Used (LRU). We compare LRU-2 and LRU theoretically, using both the standard competitive analysis and the newer relative worst order analysis. The competitive ratio for LRU-2 is shown to be 2k for cache size k, which is worse than LRU’s competitive ratio of k. However, using relative worst order analysis, we show that LRU-2 and LRU are comparable in LRU-2’s favor, giving a theoretical justification for the experimental results. Many of our results for LRU-2 also apply to its generalization, Least Recently Used Kth Last Request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230, Odense M, Denmark

    Joan Boyar, Martin R. Ehmsen, Jens S. Kohrt & Kim S. Larsen

Authors
  1. Joan Boyar
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  2. Martin R. Ehmsen
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  3. Jens S. Kohrt
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  4. Kim S. Larsen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kim S. Larsen.

Additional information

A preliminary version of this paper appeared in the Proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Approximation and Online Algorithms, volume 4368 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 95–107, Springer, 2006. This work was supported in part by the Danish Natural Science Research Council.

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Boyar, J., Ehmsen, M.R., Kohrt, J.S. et al. A theoretical comparison of LRU and LRU-K. Acta Informatica 47, 359–374 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00236-010-0123-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00236-010-0123-6

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