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>> Today if it doesn't fit in RAM, the OS makes the computer
>> pretend it has more RAM than it does (with the *minor issue* of a vast
>> slowdown and halving the life of your harddrive).
>
> I'd rather put it this way: Today, if it doesn't fit in RAM, the OS
> helps you "juggling" the memory chunks to work on. (And if it doesn't
> fit in L1 or L2 cache, the CPU provides essentially the same service.)
> Which makes life much easier in a world where you don't know how much
> RAM you'll have when programming the software. (Back then, you /did/
> know the specs of the one machine you wrote your programs for.) Plus, it
> allows much easier and faster (and therefore more economical) design of
> software where runtime performance doesn't matter that much.
Well, there is that, yes. But I (and presumably everybody else) would
prefer it if we could actually make RAM really, really fast...
> (As for harddrive life, I guess that depends on your harddrive.)
If stuff is being swapped out just because it isn't being used right
now, that's fine. But watch a program trying to random-access several GB
of data when you don't have multiple GB of RAM. It's an extremely
efficient way to give your HD a *very* strenuous workout! ;-)
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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