Dynamic memory allocation in a virtual memory computer.
R.L. Budzinski · Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) · 1977
A virtual memory is a hierarchial or multi-level memory with an address mapping mechanism and an allocation algorithm. The first level of the hierarchy is the primary memory. The primary memory has the highest speed and smallest capacity in the hierarchy. Subsequent levels have decreasing speed and increasing storage capacity. The addressing mechanism maps a program's address space into the physical memory space. The address space of the program can be much larger than the available capacity of the primary memory. For this thesis, a page-oriented addressing mechanism was employed. A page is a fixed size block of computer words associated with contiguous memory addresses. The allocation algorithm manages the flow of pages to and from the primary memory.