Dense = good

Applications should also take care to avoid filling the cache with data that isn't needed. Remember, the cache is very small compared to main memory and every unnecessary data byte in the cache is taking up space that could be used beneficially by more relevant data. One simple way to avoid wasting cache space is to use smaller data types when possible. For example, a data structure might include an integer numeric field that ranges in value between 1 and 1000. Often a 32-bit INT would be used to store this value, but in this case that is overkill; a SHORT (two bytes) would work as well, and take up half the space.