Computer Science / Unit 5 CS 0257 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Memory Hierarchy
Captions available
The idea
No single memory technology excels at speed, size, cost, and permanence at once — so systems layer several technologies, fastest and smallest nearest the processor, each level backing the one above.
In practice
A librarian's desk, the open stacks, and the archive serve one reader at three speeds.
Where people slip
The hierarchy is a treaty among imperfect materials.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it · Sources for Computer Science