In
computing, a logical address is the address at which an item (
memory cell, storage element, network host) appears to reside from the perspective of an executing
application program.
A logical address may be different from the
physical address due to the operation of an
address translator or mapping function. Such mapping functions may be, in the case of a
computer memory architecture
This glossary of computer hardware terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts related to computer hardware, i.e. the physical and structural components of computers, architectural issues, and peripheral devices.
A
...
, a
memory management unit (MMU) between the
CPU
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, and ...
and the memory bus.
Computer memory
The physical address of computer memory banks may be mapped to different logical addresses for various purposes.
In a system supporting
virtual memory, there may actually not be any physical memory mapped to a logical address until an access is attempted. The access triggers special functions of the operating system which reprogram the MMU to map the address to some physical memory, perhaps writing the old contents of that memory to disk and reading back from disk what the memory should contain at the new logical address. In this case, the logical address may be referred to as a
virtual address.
See also
*
Memory segment
*
Flat memory model
*
Memory address
{{DEFAULTSORT:Logical Address
Virtual memory