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Sci-Tech Dictionary:

random access

(′ran·dəm ′ak′ses)

(computer science) The ability to read or write information anywhere within a storage device in an amount of time that is constant regardless of the location of the information accessed and of the location of the information previously accessed. Also known as direct access. A process in which data are accessed in nonsequential order and possibly at irregular intervals of time. Also known as single reference.


 
 
 
Word Tutor: random-access
pronunciation

IN BRIEF: Permitting the user to approach in any order desired; Retrievable in any order desired.

 
Wikipedia: random access
Random access compared to sequential access.
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Random access compared to sequential access.

In computer science, random access is the ability to access an arbitrary element of a sequence in equal time. The opposite is sequential access, where a remote element takes longer time to access. A typical illustration of this distinction is the ancient scroll (sequential) and the book where any random page can be flipped open immediately. A more modern example is a cassette tape (sequential—you have to fast-forward through earlier songs to get to later ones) and a compact disc (random access—you can jump right to the track you want). The term random access memory (RAM), however, is used for semiconductor chip memory circuits used in computers. (The term was also used to describe ferrite-core memory in early computers).

In data structures, random access implies the ability to access the kth entry in a list of numbers in constant time. Very few data structures can guarantee this, other than arrays (and related structures like dynamic arrays and deques). Random access is critical to many algorithms such as quicksort and binary search. Other data structures, such as linked lists, sacrifice random access to make for efficient inserts, deletes, or searches.


 
Translations: Translations for: Random-access

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - random-access (edb)

idioms:

  • random-access memory    random-access memory (edb), RAM (edb)

Français (French)
adj. - accès sélectif/aléatoire

idioms:

  • random-access memory    (Comput) mémoire vive

Deutsch (German)
adj. - mit direktem Zugriff

idioms:

  • random-access memory    (Comp.) Direktzugriffsspeicher

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - (Η/Υ) τυχαίας προσπέλασης

idioms:

  • random-access memory    (Η/Υ) μνήμη τυχαίας προσπέλασης

Italiano (Italian)
ad accesso casuale

idioms:

  • random-access memory    memoria ad accesso casuale

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - acesso aleatório

idioms:

  • random-access memory    memória de acesso aleatório

Русский (Russian)
непосредственный доступ комп. информации

idioms:

  • random-access memory    оперативное запоминающее устройство

Español (Spanish)
adj. - acceso aleatorio

idioms:

  • random-access memory    memoria de acceso aleatorio

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - (data) adresserbart (motsats t sekventiell)

中文(简体) (Chinese (Simplified))
随机存取的

idioms:

  • random-access memory    即内存, 随机存取内存

中文(繁體) (Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 隨機存取的

idioms:

  • random-access memory    即記憶體, 隨機存取記憶體

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 임의 추출 방식의

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - ランダムアクセスの

idioms:

  • random-access memory    ランダムアクセスメモリー

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮של גישה אקראית או ישירה (לא לפי סדר האחסנה) לנתונים במחשב‬


 
 

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