Implementing a file caching service

Question

Hi,
I'm implementing a file caching service following this topic: http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-07-2001/jw-0720-cache.html
My question is which object should i cache? (a File or a FileReader/BufferedReader?)
Thanks and regards,
Robin,

Answer 1

I find this solution at the link you posted too much
overkill. Caching can be done much simpler and more
efficient. What's also missing here is the use of
weak references. In addition lazy loading of the
files is also a plus as the access to files is very
expensive and loading big files can take a while. If
you cache files, than cache just the File objects not
the FileReader or BufferedReader as they can still
claim resources. Just cache all the File objects you
need and load the file only if you really need it via
lazy instantiation of the corresponding data
containers. Also release the data as soon as possible
to avoid OutOfMemory or use at least WealReferences
for the garabage collector to have a chance to
through them out if memory is low.Sorry, but what good is it to cache the File object? As soon as the data is requested, you would still have to go and look it up.
(Not that I see too much sense in this file caching anyway, as long as the OP isn't creating a proxy server.)