Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
on.your.computer,.data.about.the.application.and.data.you.
are. creating. are. most. often. stored. in. what. is. referred. to. as.
memory..You.may.have.heard.it.called.RAM.which.stands.for.
random-access.memory..This.storage.is.available.much.faster.
than.the.data.stored.on.your.hard.drive,.so.it.is.used.by.appli-
cations.as.dynamic.or.volatile.storage..It.is.faster.for.the.very.
reason.that.it.is.volatile..It.is.stored.electronically.in.bytes.of.
electronic.impulses.but.not.“written”.onto.media.as.it.is.on.a.
hard.drive.or.other.storage.device..Because.I.promised.not.to.
get.too.deep.into.the.engineering,.let's.just.use.an.example.
As.I.write.this.sentence,.the.word.processing.application.that.
I.am.using.has.placed.this.information.into.volatile.memory.so.
that.it.is.easily.shown.on.the.screen.and.available.for.me.to.see.
and.edit..It.does.so.by.holding.electronic.charges.that.represent.
those. ones. and. zeroes. we. talked. about. earlier.. However,. the.
electricity.that.holds.those.charges.and.keeps.them.available.on.
the.memory.is.only.available.when.there.is.power.being.pro-
vided.to.the.memory.“sticks.”.These.so-called.sticks.are.usually.
sets.of.computer.chips.mounted.on.a.rectangular.plastic.card.
that.slips.into.slots.on.the.computer's.main.or.“mother”.board.
The. computer. has. also. placed. some. application. com-
mands.and.coding.into.that.memory.such.as.processes.and.
services. that. allow. my. computer. and. more. speciically,. my.
word.processor.to.respond.to.my.requests.quickly.
In.order.to.preserve.this.information.so.I.can.use.it.again.
after.I.have.inished.writing.and.turned.off.the.word.proces-
sor,.I.have.to.choose.to.save.this.document..When.I.do.so,.
my.word.processor's.programming.takes.the.data.that.makes.
up.this.document.and.makes.a.copy.of.the.data.on.my.hard.
drive..It.does.so.by.changing.the.magnetic.positive.and.nega-
tive.pulses.of.electricity.on.the.media.of.my.hard.drive.in.pat-
terns. of. bytes. that. represent. everything. on. this. document..
That.includes.all.the.words,.spaces,.symbols,.graphics,.and.
so.forth..But.it.also.includes.something.that.is.very.important.
to.understand—metadata.
Metadata.are.basically.data.about.this.data..In.the.case.of.
this.document,.that.would.include.information.about.when.it.
