How can implementing a cache strategy improve the performance of PHP applications that rely on external API calls for data retrieval?

Implementing a cache strategy can improve the performance of PHP applications that rely on external API calls by storing the retrieved data in a cache instead of making repeated API calls. This reduces the load on the external API and speeds up data retrieval for subsequent requests.

// Check if data is already in cache
$data = $cache->get('api_data');

// If data is not in cache, make API call and store in cache
if (!$data) {
    $api_response = // Make API call to retrieve data
    $data = $api_response->data;
    $cache->set('api_data', $data, 3600); // Cache data for 1 hour
}

// Use the retrieved data for processing
echo $data;