How to get location of NSStatusItem on the screen?

Help understanding memory nd screen output (hard)?

• I'm trying to build up a picture of memory and what is actually stored there. I think i am right in saying that all memory segments are 1 btye in size and each byte can hold a 8bit binary number such as 01010101 ? Well first what is a 1byte segment, is it made up of 8 transistors (my understanding of a transistor is basically a semi-conducting piece of metal that acts as a switch when a voltage is applied or not, same function as a capacitor really). If so one transistor switch would represent 1 bit? Secondly say you want to print out the character "a" on the screen. So in binary that's 01100001, so to me says that some 1byte memory location has the first transistor set to off (0)the next two a voltage is applied on hence set to on (1) the next four set to off and the last transitor again set on(voltage). I don't know how right that is but if it is how does it then get from it's memory location to the monitor. Say it was a CRT monitor how does the electron gun decode from this 1byte pattern of on or off's to produce an "a" on the screen. I do know that a CRT screen is made up of pixels each with three colours and that the guns scans the screen etc but i can't see how from storing a value(s) in memory it can tell the gun which pixels to illuminate.

• Answer:

  What the storage of 1 byte looks like depends on the media you are using to store it, for example: Punch Cards Magnetic Media Optical Media (cd's etc) Take a look at the wikipedia articles on Flip flops and DRAM and the links from there. I think that is more the type of memory you are thinking about. With regards to displaying on the screen you are missing a stage, you need a framebuffer or something similar so you can map the pixels in memory. Like a grid. What is hard to grasp at first is the speed at which this is all happening, and the amount of work the computer is doing for you when you type print();