Essential Guide to Computing: The Story of Information Technology, The

An Overview of How Storage Works

Given the complexity of computer storage, this chapter will begin with the same kind of overview of operations that was used in Chapter 1. As was the case with the earlier overview, this section will include a number of the "Tech Talks" that are used throughout the book to explain key terms. Remember that more detailed explanations will follow quickly.

A File is Loaded into Memory

You'll recall from Chapter 1 that one of the first things to happen when a computer starts up is that an instruction is loaded from some place in storage, usually a disk, and placed in memory. In actual use, the instruction isn't on its own but is part of a file. A file is essentially the same thing in computing as it is in the paper ...