computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, e ...

, a base address is an

address An address is a collection of information, presented in a mostly fixed format, used to give the location of a building, apartment, or other structure or a plot of land, generally using political boundaries and street names as references, along ...

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 In computing, a memory address is a reference to a specific memory location used at various levels by software and hardware. Memory addresses are fixed-length sequences of digits conventionally displayed and manipulated as unsigned integers. Su ...

, 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.

See also