Content-addressable memory (
CAM) is a special type of computer memory used in certain very-high-speed searching applications. It is also known as
associative memory,
associative storage, or
associative array, although the last term is more often used for a programming
data structure. It compares input search data (tag) against a table of stored data, and returns the address of matching data (or in the case of associative memory, the matching data). Several custom computers, like the
Goodyear STARAN, were built to implement CAM, and were designated
associative computers.