Cache-Friendly Data Structures in Rust

Use contiguous memory layouts like Vec<T> and structs with aligned fields to maximize CPU cache hits. Avoid pointer-heavy structures like linked lists or Box<T> chains when processing large datasets sequentially.

// Cache-friendly: contiguous memory
let data: Vec<i32> = (0..1000).collect();
for item in &data {
    // Fast sequential access
    let _ = item * 2;
}

// Cache-unfriendly: scattered memory
// let list: LinkedList<i32> = ...; // Avoid for hot loops

This approach ensures data is loaded into the CPU cache in large, efficient blocks rather than scattered across memory addresses.

Cache-friendly data structures store related items right next to each other in memory, like books on a single shelf. This lets your computer grab all the data it needs in one quick trip, instead of running back and forth to different locations. You use this when processing large lists of data to make your program run much faster.