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Glite Dictionary
memory access

memory access

1 3.7
The act of reading from or writing to a computer's memory
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : acceso a la memoria
  • In modern computers, optimizing memory access can significantly improve application performance.
  • memory access latency
  • direct memory access

Yeah, so you could use a tool like Valgren to count the number of memory accesses.

Examples

  • We say that a sequence of memory accesses has temporal locality if the same memory locations are accessed repeatedly and the repetitions are close together within the sequence.

    Academic text (1997)

  • We have direct memory access, we have message passing, we have a manager worker style or MapReduce style.

  • Also, there are different kinds of memory access.

    Academic text (2010)

  • A simple routing scheme is used to select the bus and bank for a memory access.

    Academic text (1997)

  • In addition, memory access is three to four times faster than Discover's previous-generation processors.

    Blog text (6)

  • Typically, a data channel consists of a hardware direct memory access (DMA) facility.

    Academic text (1996)

  • Memory access latency is thereby avoided, saving 18 cycles in the cacheline "fetch" operation.

    Academic text (1997)

  • The unpredictability of the memory-access patterns makes it difficult for the compiler to significantly affect the cache-miss rates.

    Academic text (2000)

  • Many types of events may be traced, but typically traces of instructions executed by the processor, memory accesses, and I/O requests are of the greatest interest.

    Academic text (2000)

  • In a high-speed microprocessor, cycle time is typically limited by a number of critical paths, one of which involves a cache memory access by a load or store instruction.

    Academic text (2000)

How Fast

register
  • Specialized
5 7.0
memory access
  • Specialized
1 3.7
disk cache
  • Specialized
4.1
disk access
  • Specialized
4.1

Surface Forms

memory access singular
memory accesses plural

Morphology

memory + access

The meaning 'the process of reading from or writing to a computer's memory' is directly and predictably composed from 'memory' (a data store) + 'access' (to reach or use), so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to reaching/using memory. This is a standard noun-noun technical compound common in computing and across languages, making it readily transparent despite its technical context.

Etymology

Memory access is like a librarian taking books from a shelf: memory is where information is kept and access is the act of getting or putting a book. So 'memory access' means the process of 'reading' from or 'writing' to a computer's memory.