A plea for interfaces that support caching

The kinds of problems client designers face when using interfaces without adequate caching support are discussed. A description of more recent file server protocols in which caching support is present is given. The difficulties interface designers will face in incorporating caching support are described. The designer faces the problem of making apparent the basic functionality of the interface, uncluttered by caching support, and the problem of what kind of caching support to provide. It is argued that incorporating caching support in the interfaces found in modern operating systems and distributed systems is critical to the performance and functionality of workstation applications