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What is the importance of computer memory
Short note on data management system
Short note on data management system
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One of the fundamental and core functions of computers is data storage. The computer has components that retain digital data and record media used for computation. The data stored is in form of bits and bytes. Fast but temporary storage in the computer are often referred to as memory while storage can refer to the storage devices that are not directly accessible, by the Central Processing Unit. Computers use several memory types organized in a storage hierarchy, in the Central Processing Unit. The memory hierarchy consists of CPU registers, SRAM caches, external caches, DRAM, paging systems and virtual memory on the hard drive of the computer. Initially, storage devices were referred to as memory, but nowadays memory refers to a Random Access Memory (RAM) that is a semiconductor storage device. The first manufactured computers used magnetic drums and William tubes for data storage, which had low access rates (Parsons & Oja, 2011, p 76). The computer has two main data storage types, which include Primary storage and Secondary storage. There are two classifications of primary storage, which are directly accessible to the Central Processing Unit, commonly referred to as, the Random Access Memory (RAM) and the Read Only Memory (ROM). The RAM which is the working memory has two main forms namely, static RAM (SRAM) and dynamic RAM (DRAM). The SRAM is faster, expensive and uses less power than the DRAM. The CPU continuously and constantly reads instructions from the RAM. In terms of data storage, the capacity of the RAM is low. It has a remarkable fast access rate and it is expensive. The RAM consists of the processor cache and processor registers. Processor registers located inside the CPU help in loading ... ... middle of paper ... ...rage. It involves robotic mechanisms, which remove and insert mass storage media into a storage device, copied to secondary storage. It is used in storing rarely used information because it is slower than secondary storage. It is useful for extremely large data stores. The highly considered elements of storage devices are capacity, performance, volatility, mutability, accessibility, addressability, capacity and energy use (Lee, 2010, p 119). In conclusion, the computer has components that help to store digital data and record media used for computation. It stores data in form of bits and bytes. Fast but transitory storage in the computer is called memory while storage can refer to the storage devices that are not directly accessible, by the Central Processing Unit. Computers use several memory types organized in a storage hierarchy, in the Central Processing Unit.
The EEPROM chip can store up to one kilobytes of data and is divided into 64 words with 16 bits each. Some memory is inaccessible or reserved for later us...
Have you ever experienced an event that was so significant to you that you felt as if your memory was taking a photograph, keeping the memory implanted in your brain for the rest of your life? This is a prime example of flashbulb memory. Flashbulb memory is a term that pertains to a person’s memory of hearing about extremely shocking events (Goldstein, 2011, p. 209). Flashbulb memory is not the memory for the event itself, but it’s the memory of how the person heard about the specific event (Goldstein, 2011, p. 209). This means that a flashbulb memory includes where you were and what you were doing when you found out about a tragic event (Goldstein, 2011, p. 209). Some key attributes of flashbulb memories are that they are both remembered for long periods of time and are exceedingly vivid (Goldstein, 2011, p. 209). A great way to describe flashbulb memories is to compare them to a photo that never fades, proving how relevant these memories are to those who have them (Goldstein, 2011, p. 209).
In the final chapter of The Impossible Knife of Memory, the main character of the book, Hayley begins it off talking about being in a fairytale. If this was her fairytale, this chapter would be her happily ever after. Before this chapter of the book, her life had been disorganized frequently because of her father’s disorder. Her father, Andy Kincain, a war veteran, has PTSD. Also known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; this disorder is caused by seeing or experiencing a very intense, and terrifying event. In Andy’s case, the war was what caused his condition.
Have you ever wondered what allows us to be aware of the present? It is actually the past! Without knowledge of past information, we would be constantly confused during the present and incapable of almost everything. Hockenbury & Hockenbury (2012) describes memory to be, “…the mental processes that enable us to acquire, retain, and retrieve information”. Without the presence of either of these three processes, the other two would be obsolete. Many experiments have been conducted to better understand these processes and break them down into their basic components.
Flashbulb memory is when a person learns or experiences a very surprising and emotional arousing events (Matlin, 155). As it is a long lasting memory that people report vivid details about a traumatic event, it has been the subjects of recent scientific studies. Recent findings have mentioned a relationship between flashbulb memory and the September 11, 2001 attack. An article published in the American Psychological Association entitled “Seared in Our Memories” written by Bridget Murray Law analyzes different studies on the topic to explore how accurate people vividly remember about the 9/11 attack, and on how much is accurate or fabricated through various encounters. After reading the article, Law mentions interesting researchers concluding
In this experiment we replicated a study done by Bransford and Johnson (1972). They conducted research on memory using schemas. All human beings possess categorical rules or scripts that they use to interpret the world. New information is processed according to how it fits into these rules, called schemas. Bransford and Johnson did research on memory for text passages that had been well comprehended or poorly comprehended. Their major finding was that memory was superior for passages that were made easy to comprehend. For our experiment we used two different groups of students. We gave them different titles and read them a passage with the intentions of finding out how many ideas they were able to recall. Since our first experiment found no significant difference, we conducted a second experiment except this time we gave the title either before or after the passage was read. We found no significant difference between the title types, but we did find a significant difference between before and after. We also found a significant title type x presentation interaction. We then performed a third experiment involving showing objects before and after the passage was read. There we did encountersome significant findings. The importance and lack of findings is discussed and we also discuss suggestions for future studies, and how to improve our results.
Memory is the vital tool in learning and thinking . We all use memory in
According to Sternberg (1999), memory is the extraction of past experiences for information to be used in the present. The retrieval of memory is essential in every aspect of daily life, whether it is for academics, work or social purposes. However, many often take memory for granted and assume that it can be relied on because of how realistic it appears in the mind. This form of memory is also known as flashbulb memory. (Brown and Kulik, 1977). The question of whether our memory is reliably accurate has been shown to have implications in providing precise details of past events. (The British Psychological Association, 2011). In this essay, I would put forth arguments that human memory, in fact, is not completely reliable in providing accurate depictions of our past experiences. Evidence can be seen in the following two studies that support these arguments by examining episodic memory in humans. The first study is by Loftus and Pickrell (1995) who found that memory can be modified by suggestions. The second study is by Naveh-Benjamin and Craik (1995) who found that there is a predisposition for memory to decline with increasing age.
Memory, helps us humans to store information. Memories can be seen similar to file folders. In each file we have sub categories of events and experiences. Some memories are memorable, others are not. Our file folder cabinet allows us to retrieve each file when we need it. There are various methods that help trigger memory in terms of remembering information. In this paper I will focus on encoding.
Paging is one of the memory-management schemes by which a computer can store and retrieve data from secondary storage for use in main memory. Paging is used for faster access to data. The paging memory-management scheme works by having the operating system retrieve data from the secondary storage in same-size blocks called pages. Paging writes data to secondary storage from main memory and also reads data from secondary storage to bring into main memory. The main advantage of paging over memory segmentation is that is allows the physical address space of a process to be noncontiguous. Before paging was implemented, systems had to fit whole programs into storage, contiguously, which would cause various storage problems and fragmentation inside the operating system (Belzer, Holzman, & Kent, 1981). Paging is a very important part of virtual memory impl...
According to the dictionary, Memory is defined as a device that is used to store data or programs (sequences of instructions) on a temporary or permanent basis for use in an electronic digital computer. Computers represent information in binary code, written as sequences of 0s and 1s. Each binary digit (or "bit") may be stored by any physical system that can be in either of two stable states, to represent 0 and 1. Such a system is called bistable. This could be an on-off switch, an electrical capacitor that can store or lose a charge, a magnet with its polarity up or down, or a surface that can have a pit or not. Today capacitors and transistors, functioning as tiny electrical switches, are used for temporary storage, and either disks or tape with a magnetic coating, or plastic discs with patterns of pits are used for long-term storage.(Dictionary.com 20014)
A processor is the chip inside a computer which carries out of the functions of the computer at various speeds. There are many processors on the market today. The two most well known companies that make processors are Intel and AMD. Intel produces the Pentium chip, with the most recent version of the Pentium chip being the Pentium 3. Intel also produces the Celeron processor (Intel processors). AMD produces the Athlon processor and the Duron processor (AMD presents).
Encoding is the process of placing information into memory. Storage is the process of retaining information in memory. Getting information out of memory is called retrieval. Out of the three, the most important is Encoding, because you must pay attention to the information that you want to place into your memory. It is the starting point, although there are three levels known within this beginning step.
There are four types of memory. These are the RAM, ROM, EEPROM and the Bootstrap loader. The RAM, also known as Random Access Memory, is the temporary space where the processor places the data while it is being used. This allows the computer to find the information that is being requested quickly without having to search the hard drive space. Once the information has been processed, and stored onto a permanent storage device, it is cleared out of the RAM. The RAM also houses the operating system while in
In designing a computer system, architects consider five major elements that make up the system's hardware: the arithmetic/logic unit, control unit, memory, input, and output. The arithmetic/logic unit performs arithmetic and compares numerical values. The control unit directs the operation of the computer by taking the user instructions and transforming them into electrical signals that the computer's circuitry can understand. The combination of the arithmetic/logic unit and the control unit is called the central processing unit (CPU). The memory stores instructions and data.