Thursday, September 2, 2010

Humans and Computers :An Analogy

Was reading a book on Software Engineering,thought worth of posting an article of an analogy between human memory and computers,which was explained in the best possible manner,here are some insights :-
  • The fact that human brain can store atmost 7 (magical number!) items in short memory span region is quite extraordinary and surprising , in fact you and me can at most remember only 7 recent items which our sensory organs perceive,this can be thought  of as CACHE memory in computers,a relatively short amount of memory,wow!!! What a beginning.
  • Then there is a portion in the brain which can store millions of items in the long memory span region,this is an direct analogy to a RAM inside a computer,which is relatively large
  • Then the brain has processing unit which processes it back to the Sensory organs,quite similar to what a processor do inside a computer...................signing off for the september!