In computing, memory refers to the state information of a computing system, as it

is kept active in some physical structure. The term "memory" is used for the
information in physical systems which are fast (ie. RAM), as a distinction from
physical systems which are slow to access (ie. data storage). By design, the term
"memory" refers to temporary state devices, whereas the term "storage" is
reserved for permanent data. Advances in storage technology have blurred the
distinction a bit —memory kept on what is conventionally a storage system is
called "virtual memory".

Colloquially, computer memory refers to the physical devices used to store data
or programs (sequences of instructions) on a temporary or permanent basis for
use in an electronic digital computer. Computers represent information in binary
code, written as sequences of 0s and 1s. Each binary digit (or "bit") may be stored
by any physical system that can be in either of two stable states, to represent 0 and
1. Such a system is called bistable. This could be an on-off switch, an electrical
capacitor that can store or lose a charge, a magnet with its polarity up or down,
or a surface that can have a pit or not. Today, capacitors and transistors,
functioning as tiny electrical switches, are used for temporary storage, and either
disks or tape with a magnetic coating, or plastic discs with patterns of pits are
used for long-term storage.

History

Detail of the back of a section of ENIAC, showing vacuum tubes

In the early 1940s, memory technology mostly permitted a capacity of a few bytes.
The first programmable digital computer, the ENIAC, using thousands of octal-
base radio vacuum tubes, could perform simple calculations involving 20 numbers
of ten decimal digits which were held in the vacuum tube accumulators.

The next significant advance in computer memory was with acoustic delay line
memory developed by J. Presper Eckert in the early 1940s. Through the
construction of a glass tube filled with mercury and plugged at each end with a
quartz crystal, delay lines could store bits of information within the quartz and
transfer it through sound waves propagating through mercury. Delay line memory
would be limited to a capacity of up to a few hundred thousand bits to remain
efficient.

Volatile memory

Volatile memory is computer memory that requires power to maintain the stored
information. Current semiconductor volatile memory technology is usually either
static RAM (see SRAM) or dynamic RAM (see DRAM). Static RAM exhibits data
remanence, but is still volatile, since all data is lost when memory is not powered.
Whereas, dynamic RAM allows data to be leaked and disappear automatically
without a refreshing. Upcoming volatile memory technologies that hope to replace
or compete with SRAM and DRAM include Z-RAM, TTRAM and A-RAM.

Non-volatile memory

Non-volatile memory is computer memory that can retain the stored information
even when not powered. Examples of non-volatile memory include read-only
memory (see ROM), flash memory, most types of magnetic computer storage
devices (e.g. hard disks, floppy discs and magnetic tape), optical discs, and early
computer storage methods such as paper tape and punched cards.Upcoming non-
volatile memory technologies include FeRAM, CBRAM, PRAM, SONOS, RRAM,
Racetrack memory, NRAM and Millipede.