.TH "random access" "" "" Definition
.PC
.PP
.II RAM
In the context of computing,
.B "random access"
means that an entity, such as memory, can be accessed
at any point, not just at the beginning.
This means that all points
within memory can be accessed equally quickly.
This contrasts with
.IR "sequential access" ,
in which entities must be accessed in a particular order,
so that some entities take longer to access than do others.
.PP
A tape drive is an example of a sequential access device,
i.e., the order in which data are read is dictated by the order
in which they stream past the tape head.
Random-access memory (RAM) is an example of random access.
Hard disks and floppy disks combine elements of random access
and sequential access.
.PP
RAM, which usually consists of semiconductor integrated circuits,
is also strictly random access.
In this regard, the term \*(QLRAM\*(QR is slightly misleading;
a more accurate name would be \*(QLread/write memory\*(QR, to
contrast RAM with read-only memory (ROM), which is also
random access memory.
.SH "See Also"
.Xr "read-only memory," read-only
.Xr "Programming COHERENT" programmi
