[NBLUG/talk] Bare metal question

[Andru Luvisi]

Is a register memory?  Literally speaking, yes, since things can be stored
there.  Literally speaking, a hard disk is also memory, as is magnetic
tape.

However, for better or for worse, we use the term "memory" to refer to the
place that is:
  Randomly accessible
  Slower than a register
  Faster than a hard disk

Typically, we also expect that data can be directly transferred between
registers and "memory".

Sometimes it is easiest to just go with the flow and use a term as it is
popularly defined, rather than worrying about its etymology.

In a related note, Knuth goes through a discussion of the word "sorting"
at the beginning of volume 3 where he talks about how the word "sorting"
is not, strictly speaking, the best term for what programmers mean when
they say it.  He suggests that the word "ordering" might be a better word,
but also gives a very humorous explaination of how using that word can
lead to even worse confusion.

Andru
-- 
Andru Luvisi, Programmer/Analyst

Quote Of The Moment:
  Churchill's Commentary on Man:
          Man will occasionally stumble over the truth,
          but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on.