Data Structures & Algorithms

Hot Path

/hɒt pɑːθ/

Definition

The section of code executed most frequently — optimising the hot path yields the greatest performance gains.

Example in context

"The hot path is the request parser, called 100k times/second — shaving 1µs here saves 100ms per 1000 requests."

Practice this term

Master Hot Path in context by working through exercises in the Data Structures & Algorithms module. You'll see the term used in real engineering scenarios with multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and matching drills.