Physical and Logical Address Space
Physical Address Space
Physical address space in a system can be defined as the size of the main memory. It is really important to compare the process size with the physical address space. The process size must be less than the physical address space.
If, physical address space = 64 KB = 2 ^ 6 KB = 2 ^ 6 X 2 ^ 10 Bytes = 2 ^ 16 bytes
Let us consider,
word size = 8 Bytes = 2 ^ 3 Bytes
Hence,
Physical address space (in words) = (2 ^ 16) / (2 ^ 3) = 2 ^ 13 Words
Therefore,
Physical Address = 13 bits
In General,
If, Physical Address Space = N Words
then, Physical Address = log2 N
Logical Address Space
Logical address space can be defined as the size of the process. The size of the process should be less enough so that it can reside in the main memory.
Let’s say,
Word size = 4 Bytes = 2 ^ 2 Bytes
Logical Address Space (in words) = (2 ^ 27) / (2 ^ 2) = 2 ^ 25 Words
Logical Address = 25 Bits
In general,
If, logical address space = L words
Then, Logical Address = Log2L bits
What is a Word?
The Word is the smallest unit of the memory. It is the collection of bytes. Every operating system defines different word sizes after analyzing the n-bit address that is inputted to the decoder and the 2 ^ n memory locations that are produced from the decoder.