Cache Simulator

Overview

• Year: 2019
• Language(s): Java
• Discipline(s): Computer Architecture, Computer Engineering, Computer Science
• Keywords: Associativity, Cache, Cache Simulator, Cache Size, FIFO, LRU, Replacement Policy, Write-Back, Write-Through

Description

Cache Simulator is a Java program that simulates a simple cache system with various inputs, including cache size, replacement policy, associativity and write-back policy.

These inputs are then used to analyze a given file that contains a list of memory accesses. In the file, each line contains (a) the type of access (read or write), and (b) a memory address. The simulator then takes this information and outputs useful statistics regarding the state of the cache system, including the number of hits, misses, and their ratios.

The following are the inputs used for this program:

1. Cache Size: The size of the cache system (in bytes).
2. Associativity: The associativity of the cache system.
3. Replacement Policy: Uses 0 for a Least-Recently Used (LRU) Policy, and 1 for a First-In, First-Out (FIFO) Policy.
4. Write-Back Policy: Uses 0 for Write-Through, and 1 for Write-Back.
5. Input File: The given memory access list file.

Further, these are the specified output statistics for the simulator:

1. Miss Ratio for the Cache
2. Number of Writes to Memory
3. Number of Reads from Memory

The following are the memory access input files:

1. MiniFE.t
2. XSBench.t

Note: To use these files, download them and move them to the same directory as CacheSimulator.java.

Build Instructions

1. Download CacheSimulator.java.

2. Download the MiniFE.t and/or XSBench.t memory access list files.

3. Place them all in the same folder.

4. Compile CacheSimulator.java in your terminal, using the following instruction:

   javac CacheSimulator.java

5. Run the simulation by using the following input parameters:

   java CacheSimulator <cache_size> <associativity> <replacement_policy> <write_back_policy> <input_file>

6. The simulation will then output the specified statistics.