As with anything known to man, computers are not without their quirks. Sometimes it seems that computers almost plan to confuse and frustrate users, since there are so many things that could be creating the strange behavior we see. Add to that the multiple forms of memory and the behaviors of each, which can choose to exhibit some rather strange and unwanted behavior at inopportune times, and you have the mix for a thoroughly confusing experience.
However, there is no need to panic. Computer memory has a class of characteristics that are unique and can help us better understand why it sometimes acts the way it does. These characteristics consist of volatility, mutability, accessibility, and addressability. Add capacity and performance, and the combination isn’t that hard to figure out. Armed with this knowledge, we can understand computer memory and help it work better for us.
Here are some terms to understand before deciding that your computer is acting strange and needs to be replaced. Usually, the computer’s tendency to eat our documents and torment us with inoperable operations is just the fault of not understanding the capabilities of memory types or that there is more than one type even among the named memories we know of, such as RAM and ROM.
Volatility has two poles: what is volatile and what is not volatile. The only difference is in what the memory can do if there is a power interruption to the computer. The non-volatile memory will retain our work even without electricity. This type of memory strives to make us happy by saving our work and favorite computer programs for later use.
Volatile memory would be called temperamental when compared to how we work ourselves. Another way of looking at this type of memory is to think of it as the emotions of the computer. Just as we are fickle in our emotions, so are computers. This type of memory must have a constant power supply in order not to retain its work. If the power fades, so does the volatile memory. He likes a good load.
Dynamic and static forms of memory are generally associated with RAM. Both forms are volatile and require a constant power source, but dynamic memory is updated periodically. Static memory is not updated, which makes it a useful option, but not as popular as dynamic memory.
Mutability is the ability of computer memory to read and write to storage and comes in the form of immutable and mutable memory types. Mutable storage can be overwritten more than once and is necessary for a computer to be useful for many of the tasks that users want to do with the computer. This type of memory is used for primary and secondary storage purposes. Among the specific types of storage and mutable memory is ROM.
Accessibility is found in both random access forms and sequential forms. Random access is probably the best known and is affectionately called RAM. This means that storage at any location can be accessed in roughly the same amount of time, which seems instantaneous to us, but actually isn’t.
Sequential memory is slower, and information is collected and accessed in serial order. Usually this type can be commonly seen with offline storage.
Addressability comes in three forms: location, file, and content. The location is done by a numerical memory address that is usually limited to primary storage and is accessed internally. The file is made up of human readable filenames. In other words, the name you give a file is how it is addressed. Content addressability refers to a selected hash value: a short identifier with a number that points to the memory address for the data.
Now that the terms aren’t so mysterious, it’ll be easier to understand some of the memory-related behavior your computer exhibits. This should make using your computer a more pleasant experience.
