Lecture

Memories: Evolution and Types

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Description

This lecture covers the evolution and taxonomy of memories, from punch cards to modern semiconductor devices. It explains the differences between SRAM and DRAM, highlighting their speed, capacity, and cost trade-offs. The lecture delves into the physical implementation of memories, addressing address decoding and memory layout. It also explores the functional taxonomy of memories, including RAM, ROM, and special-purpose memories. The instructor discusses the abstract view of memories, memory interfaces, and the typical read and write cycles of SRAM. The lecture concludes by examining the challenges and optimizations in DRAM design, emphasizing the importance of memory hierarchy in computer architecture.

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Computer engineering

Computer architecture: Embedded systems

Hardware engineering: Microprocessors

Related concepts (32)

Computer memory

Computer memory stores information, such as data and programs for immediate use in the computer. The term memory is often synonymous with the term primary storage or main memory. An archaic synonym for memory is store. Computer memory operates at a high speed compared to storage which is slower but less expensive and higher in capacity. Besides storing opened programs, computer memory serves as disk cache and write buffer to improve both reading and writing performance.

Random-access memory

Random-access memory (RAM; ræm) is a form of computer memory that can be read and changed in any order, typically used to store working data and machine code. A random-access memory device allows data items to be read or written in almost the same amount of time irrespective of the physical location of data inside the memory, in contrast with other direct-access data storage media (such as hard disks, CD-RWs, DVD-RWs and the older magnetic tapes and drum memory), where the time required to read and write data items varies significantly depending on their physical locations on the recording medium, due to mechanical limitations such as media rotation speeds and arm movement.

Computer architecture

In computer science, computer architecture is a description of the structure of a computer system made from component parts. It can sometimes be a high-level description that ignores details of the implementation. At a more detailed level, the description may include the instruction set architecture design, microarchitecture design, logic design, and implementation. The first documented computer architecture was in the correspondence between Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace, describing the analytical engine.

Working memory

Working memory is a cognitive system with a limited capacity that can hold information temporarily. It is important for reasoning and the guidance of decision-making and behavior. Working memory is often used synonymously with short-term memory, but some theorists consider the two forms of memory distinct, assuming that working memory allows for the manipulation of stored information, whereas short-term memory only refers to the short-term storage of information.

Word (computer architecture)

In computing, a word is the natural unit of data used by a particular processor design. A word is a fixed-sized datum handled as a unit by the instruction set or the hardware of the processor. The number of bits or digits in a word (the word size, word width, or word length) is an important characteristic of any specific processor design or computer architecture.

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