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Design a single-machine LRU cache

Last updated: Mar 29, 2026

Quick Overview

This question evaluates a candidate's ability to design an efficient in-memory LRU cache and apply concurrency control, covering eviction semantics, capacity management, key updates, and synchronization for thread safety.

  • Medium
  • DoorDash
  • Coding & Algorithms
  • Software Engineer

Design a single-machine LRU cache

Company: DoorDash

Role: Software Engineer

Category: Coding & Algorithms

Difficulty: Medium

Interview Round: Technical Screen

Design an in-memory LRU cache for a single machine using a hash map and a doubly linked list to support O( 1) get and put. Explain how you handle capacity, eviction, and key updates. Then make your design thread-safe: discuss lock granularity (global lock vs. per-bucket/segmented locks), readers–writer locks, lock-free alternatives, and how you would prevent race conditions and ensure memory safety. Analyze time and space complexity and outline major pitfalls.

Quick Answer: This question evaluates a candidate's ability to design an efficient in-memory LRU cache and apply concurrency control, covering eviction semantics, capacity management, key updates, and synchronization for thread safety.

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DoorDash
Sep 6, 2025, 12:00 AM
Software Engineer
Technical Screen
Coding & Algorithms
8
0

Design an in-memory LRU cache for a single machine using a hash map and a doubly linked list to support O(

  1. get and put. Explain how you handle capacity, eviction, and key updates. Then make your design thread-safe: discuss lock granularity (global lock vs. per-bucket/segmented locks), readers–writer locks, lock-free alternatives, and how you would prevent race conditions and ensure memory safety. Analyze time and space complexity and outline major pitfalls.

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