SparkFun Hooks a Patent Troll
&gt; &gt;    The cost is further reduced by employing only static or dynamic ram as a means for holding the state of the system. [...]<p>&gt; Dynamic ram? Can I poke fun at them for not knowing what RAM is? Yes I can.<p>&gt; The above paragraph succinctly describes malloc(), which is perhaps one of the most fundamental advancements in modern computing. The problem is that Al didn’t invent it. Memory management (the ability to take RAM and then give it back when your function is done) goes back to the dawn of computing.<p>No, this is wrong.<p>Nathan is referring to <i>dynamic memory allocation</i>, which is what malloc does, but that isn&#x27;t what this line in the lawsuit is talking about.<p>Dynamic RAM, or DRAM is RAM that stores state in a capacitor. This is what your laptop uses -- DDR4 SDRAM is &quot;Double data rate (version 4) synchronous <i>dynamic RAM</i>&quot;. In DRAM, the charge on the capacitors slowly dissipates, so DRAM needs to be &quot;refreshed&quot; periodically, which is why it&#x27;s referred to a &quot;dynamic&quot; RAM.<p><i>Static</i> RAM, or SRAM, is RAM that stores state in a register-like structure (usually cross-coupled inverters). It&#x27;s &quot;static&quot; in that it doesn&#x27;t need to be refreshed -- as long as the supply voltage is maintained, the bits stored in an SRAM will remain intact.<p>I agree that this patent lawsuit is bullshit, and I really hate to derail the conversation, but I&#x27;m surprised by Nathan&#x27;s misunderstanding here, given that SparkFun makes embedded boards that use all kinds of memory. SRAM&#x2F;DRAM isn&#x27;t unusual terminology. The distinction doesn&#x27;t even matter in the context of this line in the lawsuit, but if you&#x27;re going to make a point of nitpicking about something, you should really make sure that you&#x27;re actually right about it first...