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In 1945, mathematician John von Neumann wrote down a very simple recipe for a computer. It would contain two key components: a central processing unit to perform calculations and logical operations, and a memory bank to store instructions and data. Our computers and microprocessorequipped gadgets still follow this basic recipe. But under the hood, of course, they are far more complex. No existing form of memory is good at everything. So to move instructions and data as fast as possible, engineers have had to compromise. Today?s computers use a smorgasbord of different memory technologies, exploiting the best parts of each. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]