Direct-Mapped Cache

A block is the unit of transfer between cache and memory.

In a direct-mapped cache, each memory address is associated with one possible cache line (block) within the cache.

That means that if a block is in cache, it must be in one specific place. Therefore, we only need to look in a single location in the cache for the data if it exists in the cache.

When we ask for a byte of data, the system finds out the block that byte is in, and loads it all.