Here is a very visual example on how to use the memcache. It sets the key 'time' to the current time.
Put the example code in an empty page and keep reloading it.
As you can see, after 10 seconds your memcache key will be able to update with a new timestamp.
<?php
$memcache_obj = new Memcache;
$memcache_obj->connect('127.0.0.1', 11211);
if ($memcache_obj->get('time') == "") {
$date = date("H:i:s");
$memcache_obj->set('time', $date, MEMCACHE_COMPRESSED, 10);
}
echo "At ".date("H:i:s").", your key is ".$memcache_obj->get('time');
?>