Talk:Computer memory

good definitions of terms

http://www.kingston.com/firoot/branded/notebook_memory.asp?id=2 Only blunder is use of unexplained EDO in explaining SDRAM. --Espoo (talk) 08:50, 6 September 2009 (UTC)

virtual memory

no mention of virtual memory in this article or even in the template Memory types, and no mention of this article in virtual memory! --Espoo (talk) 09:11, 6 September 2009 (UTC)

Renaming from Computer memory to Electronic memory

I asked the user who changed the article name to comment on the justification or point to the thread supporting the name change here. § Music Sorter § (talk) 08:36, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

Sorry for my ambivalence. I changed my mind and moved it back to Computer memory. Instead electronic memory now points at semiconductor memory, which is a more well-defined term. I have now rewritten the lead of this article, which did include some guessing and incorrect statements. Mange01 (talk) 11:58, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

Merge with Computer data storage

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.

No consensus required for merging. — Dsimic (talk | contribs) 09:38, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

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The two articles are currently covering essentialy the same topic, with "computer memory" being the more common name. See section Characteristics of storage at Computer data storage, its contents are parallel to those in computer memory. It's arguable that Computer data storage should refer to persistent storage as in a Data storage device, but it's not dedicated to that topic right now; so I think a merger makes sense. Diego (talk) 12:54, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

• Oppose: DO NOT Converge Computer Memory with Computer Data Storage - they are different and should be kept in seperate articles - the general public find it had enough to understand the differences, without these articles supporting their ignorance! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.231.54.225 (talk) 06:34, 27 June 2012 (UTC)
• Oppose: I agree they are two different things and the articles should not be merged. Tom94022 (talk) 07:09, 19 November 2014 (UTC)
• Oppose: These are not the same topic! Computer memory is a subset of Computer data storage. Disk storage is another subset of Computer data storage, as is Tape library. Also, Punched card (albeit obsolete). – Wbm1058 (talk) 13:58, 2 November 2012 (UTC)

  It's not at all clear to me that such a distinction exists. There is a great deal of overlap in the content of both articles, and indeed, the first line of the Computer data storage article says that the term is synonymous with "computer memory"! If computer memory is in fact a subset of computer data storage, than with the amount of overlap today, I'd say the best option is to make "Computer memory" a redirect to the appropriate subsection of "Computer data storage".--Xiaphias (talk) 18:02, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

  It is clear to me that a distinction exists; off the top of my head something like Computer Memory refers to that information directly accessible by the computer instruction set whereas Computer Storage or Computer Data Storage refer to that information indirectly accessible by the computer thru other means such as an input/output channel. I can probably find reliable sources with better definitions than the ones I postulated above. If the articles do not make the distinction clear we should fix them. Tom94022 (talk) 07:09, 19 November 2014 (UTC)

  I don't think so actually. At a cursory glance, it would seem that memory vs storage are just (somewhat?) arbitrary distinctions, and in which case, I support the merge. This discussion has actually already happened, 9 years ago, minus a day here and there, too. There's more of those discussions scattered about at different dates on that talk page too. A notable quote from that talk page:

  The Multics operating system really blurred the separation. In it everything had a "memory address", regardless of where it physically resided (disk, tape, punched card, printer, etc.). There were no system calls for I/O, except to map and unmap files and devices to their addresses. Once mapped the file or device was accessed just like any other memory as far as the programmer was concerned. -- 205.175.225.5 00:15, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

  - BlueFenixReborn (talk) 01:47, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

• Oppose: Storage is not the same as computer memory! Storage includes short term as well as long term. Solid state and rotating disk as well as tape systems. This is totally different from computer memory. 21:02, 26 November 2014 67.58.157.201
• Oppose: Those are two rather different things: when referring to "memory" it's almost always about the main memory, while "data storage" almost exclusively refers to secondary storage. However, there is some recent blurring of those two areas with the concept of NVRAM, but that still doesn't justify the merger. — Dsimic (talk | contribs) 09:38, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

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The above discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.