Magnetic-core memory (English: Magnetic Core Memory) is an early form of computer memory. Magnetic-core memory using memory-magnetic material, its principle is: the magnetic ring (core) with magnetic or non-magnetic properties of the state, to represent the 1 or 0 bit, a long string of 1 or 0 on behalf of the combination of information to be stored.
Magnetic-core memory is a random access memory (Random Access Memory), the computer can assume the role of main memory. Compared to the vacuum tube, the magnetic-core memory power, nor life issues vacuum tube. When the computer into the semiconductor era, there is still a considerable period of time, magnetic-core memory continued role as the main memory. Also, because the magnetic-core memory is non-volatile memory (Non-volatile Memory), one of its features are: Even when the machine or power outage, as long as there are no errors write signal occurs, still can retain its contents.
For magnetic-core memory have an important contribution to the Dr. Wang An, who is also the founder of Wang Laboratories. He invented a reading that is written (write-after-read cycle), to solve one of the important issues on the core body application that will be read at the same time can not erase the memory retains data problems, and later made the relevant patent.
Although the semiconductor memory used today has been a long, but sometimes still use the traditional name, also known as Memory Core, one obvious example is the Core Dump: In the program crashes and abort to save main memory contents up to for debugging purposes.
