Question

Identify one advantage of the paging approach over the segmentation approach to virtual memory.

Answer 1

Paging:-

Each process is divided into fixed-size pages. Pages here are relatively smaller than in case of segments in segmentation process. Translation from a binary virtual address to respective physical address is easier as compared to process of segmentation. Paging provides an efficient table look up mechanism.

Segmentation, on the other hand, is used for the varying size components called "segments". Paging can also be implemented on segments done by segmentation. Thus segmentation can combine paging with itself.

Advantages of Paging approach over segmentation approach to virtual memory are:

1. No external fragmentation due to fixed, relatively small sized pages in case of Paging.

2. Relatively cost efficient than segmentation for memory management algorithms.

3. It requires less memory area than segmentation.

4. Paging keep track of free pages unlike segmentation and thus it is beneficial to manage memory efficiently.

5. Pages can be swapped easily as all pages are of equal size unlike segments that are of varying sizes.