Memory Architecture needs redefinition

Memory Architecture needs redefinition: There is a discussion going on in one of the All Programmable Planet pos...

What it fails to discuss is architecture. It just assumes that it will be a part of a “computer” system and thus, by definition, will be a von Neumann type of architecture. It also assumes that it is "electronic", and this unnecessarily limits the definition. It does not even consider a DSP which may have multiple data access mechanisms. It then provides many other related pages that discuss issues such as cache, ECC, shared memory and yes, there are pages for von Neumann and Harvard architectures. But memory is much more fundamental than that and the word “computer” needs to be deleted from the Wikipedia entry. Memory has one function, to store data, and yes there are many decisions that relate to retention policies, costs, amount of data that needs to be stored, data security etc. All of these relate to the design and implementation of the memory itself. Some of those de...

Full article: http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/practical-chip-desig...