What is RAM, Virtual Memory, Pagefile, Processes and Address Spaces ?
Windows, application programs and many system processes always reference memory using virtual memory addresses which are automatically translated to real (RAM) addresses by the hardware. Only core parts of the operating system kernel bypass this address translation and use real memory addresses directly.
Virtual Memory is always in use, even when the memory required by all running processes does not exceed the amount of RAM installed on the system.
1.RAM:It is the place in a computer where the operating system,application programs, and data in current use are kept so that they can be quickly reached by the computer's processor
2.Virtual memory:Virtual Memory is a feature of an operating system that enables a process to use a memory address space that is independent of other processes running in the same system, and use a space that is larger than the actual amount of RAM present, temporarily relegating some contents from RAM to a disk, with little or no overhead.
3.Pagefile:In computer operating systems there are various ways in which the operating system can store and retrieve data from secondary storage for use in main memory. One such memory management scheme is referred to as paging.
4.Processes:Sequence of interdependent and linked procedures which, at every stage consume one or more resources to convert inputs into output These outputs then serve as inputs for the next stage until a known goal is achieved
5.Address space :In computing, an address space defines a range of discrete addresses, each of which may correspond to a physical or virtual memory register, a network host, peripheral device, disk sector, or other logical or physical entity.