RAM

I always heard the acronym RAM be randomly thrown around in conversations involving computers. But never questioned it much — What does RAM stand for?

Random Access Memory.

This is the workspace where the computer holds data temporarily while it is working on tasks. What does this mean exactly? It's like your "working memory" where you hold information you need right now, but don't necessarily keep forever.

More RAM allows the computer to work on more tasks simultaneously without slowing down.

And once you power off the device, this data is lost.

Why is it called Random Access?

We can think of it as a dictionary vs a novel. In a dictionary, you can directly access any word without reading preceding entries. In contrast, a novel is read linearly from start to finish. RAM operates like a dictionary, allowing immediate access to any stored data, bypassing the need to go through other data first.

Kinda cool, huh?