Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
It. was. loaded. into. memory. or. RAM.. If. you. were. good.
enough.to.read.and.absorb.that.section.where.we.discussed.
random. access. or. volatile. memory,. you. will. remember. that.
data.you.are.working.on.while.your.computer.is.running.are.
stored.there.because.it.is.much.faster.to.store.it.there.and.is.
easier.to.access..The.ability.of.all.of.these.things.to.happen,.
seemingly.without.delay,.is.in.large.part.due.to.that.engineer-
ing.design.that.stores.that.data.and.much.more.of.what.you.
are.doing.on.your.desktop.in.that.very.fast.input.and.output.
storage.called.RAM.
But.wait,.that.is.not.all.(if.I.may.quote.late.night.advertis-
ing).. The. central. processor. also. sends. that. information. off.
to.more.permanent.and.slower.storage.on.your.hard.drive,.
or.possibly.to.other.storage.devices..Of.course,.every.bit.of.
that.happens.so.quickly,.that.as.I.type.along.at.my.relatively.
slow.40.words.per.minute.or.so,.there.does.not.seem.to.be.
any. delay. between. my. clicking. away. on. the. keyboard. and.
the.appearance.of.the.text.on.my.screen..In.fact.the.delay.is.
miniscule.in.almost.all.cases.
But.you.probably.had.it.happen.as.I.have,.that.sometimes.
this. system. breaks. down.. Something. going. on. with. your.
desktop.has.taken.up.all.the.processing.power.available.and.
suddenly.you.type.and.nothing.appears..Usually,.it.is.just.a.
matter.of.time.and.then.everything.speeds.up.again.and.you.
are.good.to.go..But.sometimes.these.effects.can.be.long.last-
ing.and.considerably.annoying..We.have.grown.used.to.the.
speed.of.computer.life.and.a.delay.of.even.a.second.can.be.
quite.distressing.
If.you.are.as.old.as.I.am,.you.may.still.remember.those.
bad.old.days.when.such.delays.were.not.only.normal.but.were.
considered. acceptable. as. long. as. they. did. not. slow. things.
down.too.much.
You.had.to.be.careful.about.what.you.asked.your.computer.
and.operating.system.to.handle.because.you.would.absolutely.
see.the.effects.if.you.pushed.too.much.at.it.at.a.time..In.fact.
it.might.just.give.up.and.die.altogether,.and.unless.you.were.
lucky. enough. to. have. saved. things. carefully,. all. your. work.
