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Memory Segment
Memory segmentation is an operating system memory management technique of dividing a computer's primary memory into segments or sections. In a computer system using segmentation, a reference to a memory location includes a value that identifies a segment and an offset (memory location) within that segment. Segments or sections are also used in object files of compiled programs when they are linked together into a program image and when the image is loaded into memory. Segments usually correspond to natural divisions of a program such as individual routines or data tables so segmentation is generally more visible to the programmer than paging alone. Segments may be created for program modules, or for classes of memory usage such as code segments and data segments. Certain segments may be shared between programs. Segmentation was originally invented as a method by which system software could isolate software processes ( tasks) and data they are using. It was intended to incr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operating System
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also include accounting software for cost allocation of Scheduling (computing), processor time, mass storage, peripherals, and other resources. For hardware functions such as input and output and memory allocation, the operating system acts as an intermediary between programs and the computer hardware, although the application code is usually executed directly by the hardware and frequently makes system calls to an OS function or is interrupted by it. Operating systems are found on many devices that contain a computerfrom cellular phones and video game consoles to web servers and supercomputers. , Android (operating system), Android is the most popular operating system with a 46% market share, followed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Memory Management Unit
A memory management unit (MMU), sometimes called paged memory management unit (PMMU), is a computer hardware unit that examines all references to computer memory, memory, and translates the memory addresses being referenced, known as virtual memory addresses, into physical addresses in main memory. In modern systems, programs generally have addresses that access the theoretical maximum memory of the computer architecture, 32 or 64 bits. The MMU maps the addresses from each program into separate areas in physical memory, which is generally much smaller than the theoretical maximum. This is possible because programs rarely use large amounts of memory at any one time. Most modern operating systems (OS) work in concert with an MMU to provide virtual memory (VM) support. The MMU tracks memory use in fixed-size blocks known as ''pages''. If a program refers to a location in a page that is not in physical memory, the MMU sends an interrupt to the operating system. The OS selects a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Base Address
In computing, a base address is an address serving as a reference point ("base") for other addresses. Related addresses can be accessed using an ''addressing scheme''. Under the ''relative addressing'' scheme, to obtain an absolute address, the relevant base address is taken and an offset (aka displacement) is added to it. Under this type of scheme, the base address is the lowest numbered address within a prescribed range, to facilitate adding related positive-valued offsets. In IBM System/360 architecture, the base address is a 24-bit value in a general register (extended in steps to 64 bits in z/Architecture), and the offset is a 12 bit value in the instruction (extended to 20 bits in z/Architecture). See also * Index register An index register in a computer's central processing unit, CPU is a processor register (or an assigned memory location) used for pointing to operand addresses during the run of a program. It is useful for stepping through String (computer scienc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burroughs Large Systems
The Burroughs Large Systems Group produced a family of large 48-bit computing, 48-bit mainframe computer, mainframes using stack machine instruction sets with dense Syllable (computing), syllables.E.g., 12-bit syllables for B5000, 8-bit syllables for B6500 The first machine in the family was the B5000 in 1961, which was optimized for compiling ALGOL 60 programs extremely well, using single-pass compilers. The B5000 evolved into the B5500 (disk rather than drum) and the B5700 (up to four systems running as a cluster). Subsequent major redesigns include the B6500/B6700 line and its successors, as well as the separate B8500 line. In the 1970s, the Burroughs Corporation was organized into three divisions with very different product line architectures for high-end, mid-range, and entry-level business computer systems. Each division's product line grew from a different concept for how to optimize a computer's instruction set for particular programming languages. "Burroughs Large Systems" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burroughs Corporation
The Burroughs Corporation was a major American manufacturer of business equipment. The company was founded in 1886 as the American Arithmometer Company by William Seward Burroughs I, William Seward Burroughs. The company's history paralleled many of the major developments in history of computing, computing. At its start, it produced mechanical adding machines, and later moved into programmable ledgers and then computers. It was one of the largest producers of mainframe computers in the world, also producing related equipment including typewriters and Printer (computing), printers. In the 1960s, the company introduced a range of mainframe computers that were well regarded for their performance running high level languages. These formed the core of the company's business into the 1970s. At that time the emergence of superminicomputers and the dominance of the IBM System/360 and 370 at the high end led to shrinking markets, and in 1986 the company purchased former competitor Sperry C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Page Table
A page table is a data structure used by a virtual memory system in a computer to store mappings between virtual addresses and physical addresses. Virtual addresses are used by the program executed by the accessing process, while physical addresses are used by the hardware, or more specifically, by the random-access memory (RAM) subsystem. The page table is a key component of virtual address translation that is necessary to access data in memory. The page table is set up by the computer's operating system, and may be read and written during the virtual address translation process by the memory management unit or by low-level system software or firmware. Role of the page table In operating systems that use virtual memory, every process is given the impression that it is working with large, contiguous sections of memory. Physically, the memory of each process may be dispersed across different areas of physical memory, or may have been moved ( paged out) to secondary storage ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fragmentation (computing)
In computer storage, fragmentation is a phenomenon in the computer system which involves the distribution of data in to smaller pieces which storage space, such as computer memory or a hard drive, is used inefficiently, reducing capacity or performance and often both. The exact consequences of fragmentation depend on the specific system of storage allocation in use and the particular form of fragmentation. In many cases, fragmentation leads to storage space being "wasted", and programs will tend to run inefficiently due to the shortage of memory. Basic principle In main memory fragmentation, when a computer program requests blocks of memory from the computer system, the blocks are allocated in chunks. When the computer program is finished with a chunk, it can free it back to the system, making it available to later be allocated again to another or the same program. The size and the amount of time a chunk is held by a program varies. During its lifespan, a computer program can requ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
X86 Memory Segmentation
x86 memory segmentation is a term for the kind of memory segmentation characteristic of the Intel x86 computer instruction set architecture. The x86 architecture has supported memory segmentation since the original Intel 8086 (1978), but ''x86 memory segmentation'' is a plainly descriptive retronym. The introduction of memory segmentation mechanisms in this architecture reflects the legacy of earlier 80xx processors, which initially could only address 16, or later 64 KB of memory (16,384 or 65,536 bytes), and whose instructions and registers were optimised for the latter. Dealing with larger addresses and more memory was thus comparably slower, as that capability was somewhat grafted-on in the Intel 8086. Memory segmentation could keep programs compatible, relocatable in memory, and by confining significant parts of a program's operation to 64 KB segments, the program could still run faster. In 1982, the Intel 80286 added support for virtual memory and memory pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Byte
The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit of memory in many computer architectures. To disambiguate arbitrarily sized bytes from the common 8-bit definition, network protocol documents such as the Internet Protocol () refer to an 8-bit byte as an octet. Those bits in an octet are usually counted with numbering from 0 to 7 or 7 to 0 depending on the bit endianness. The size of the byte has historically been hardware-dependent and no definitive standards existed that mandated the size. Sizes from 1 to 48 bits have been used. The six-bit character code was an often-used implementation in early encoding systems, and computers using six-bit and nine-bit bytes were common in the 1960s. These systems often had memory words of 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 48, or 60 bits, corresponding t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Page (computer Memory)
A page, memory page, or virtual page is a fixed-length contiguous block of virtual memory, described by a single entry in a page table. It is the smallest unit of data for memory management in an operating system that uses virtual memory. Similarly, a page frame is the smallest fixed-length contiguous block of physical memory into which memory pages are mapped by the operating system. A transfer of pages between main memory and an auxiliary store, such as a hard disk drive, is referred to as paging or swapping. Explanation Computer memory is divided into pages so that information can be found more quickly. The concept is named by analogy to the pages of a printed book. If a reader wanted to find, for example, the 5,000th word in the book, they could count from the first word. This would be time-consuming. It would be much faster if the reader had a listing of how many words are on each page. From this listing they could determine which page the 5,000th word appears on, and h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Memory Protection
Memory protection is a way to control memory access rights on a computer, and is a part of most modern instruction set architectures and operating systems. The main purpose of memory protection is to prevent a process from accessing memory that has not been allocated to it. This prevents a bug or malware within a process from affecting other processes, or the operating system itself. Protection may encompass all accesses to a specified area of memory, write accesses, or attempts to execute the contents of the area. An attempt to access unauthorized memory results in a hardware fault, e.g., a segmentation fault, storage violation exception, generally causing abnormal termination of the offending process. Memory protection for computer security includes additional techniques such as address space layout randomization and executable-space protection. Methods Segmentation Segmentation refers to dividing a computer's memory into segments. A reference to a memory locatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virtual Memory
In computing, virtual memory, or virtual storage, is a memory management technique that provides an "idealized abstraction of the storage resources that are actually available on a given machine" which "creates the illusion to users of a very large (main) memory". The computer's operating system, using a combination of hardware and software, maps memory addresses used by a program, called '' virtual addresses'', into ''physical addresses'' in computer memory. Main storage, as seen by a process or task, appears as a contiguous address space or collection of contiguous segments. The operating system manages virtual address spaces and the assignment of real memory to virtual memory. Address translation hardware in the CPU, often referred to as a memory management unit (MMU), automatically translates virtual addresses to physical addresses. Software within the operating system may extend these capabilities, utilizing, e.g., disk storage, to provide a virtual address space ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
