DMA

DMA can refer to:

Arts

Chemistry

Computing

Like a Version

Like a Version is a weekly segment on the Australian radio station Triple J. It involves Australian and international artists playing live in the Triple J studio, typically performing one of their own songs and then a cover version, hence the name of the segment. The title is wordplay on Like a Virgin.

It was created by Mel Bampton as part of the Mel in the Morning program. The segment was later moved to Robbie Buck's Drive program, and then to the Breakfast Show. Due to the intimate nature of the studio, the performance is often acoustic or otherwise stripped-back, however some bands have stretched this concept. The segment has grown in popularity over the years, leading to the release of compilation CDs featuring the best covers. Some particularly well-received covers have also made it into the Triple J Hottest 100. All Like a Version performances are filmed by Triple J and are made available on the Triple J website and YouTube channel.

Like a Version is comparable to BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge and Irish Today FM's Even Better Than the Real Thing.

Direct memory access

Direct memory access (DMA) is a feature of computer systems that allows certain hardware subsystems to access main system memory (RAM) independently of the central processing unit (CPU).

Without DMA, when the CPU is using programmed input/output, it is typically fully occupied for the entire duration of the read or write operation, and is thus unavailable to perform other work. With DMA, the CPU first initiates the transfer, then it does other operations while the transfer is in progress, and it finally receives an interrupt from the DMA controller when the operation is done. This feature is useful at any time that the CPU cannot keep up with the rate of data transfer, or when the CPU needs to perform useful work while waiting for a relatively slow I/O data transfer. Many hardware systems use DMA, including disk drive controllers, graphics cards, network cards and sound cards. DMA is also used for intra-chip data transfer in multi-core processors. Computers that have DMA channels can transfer data to and from devices with much less CPU overhead than computers without DMA channels. Similarly, a processing element inside a multi-core processor can transfer data to and from its local memory without occupying its processor time, allowing computation and data transfer to proceed in parallel.