2.1.2

Managing Memory

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Memory and Process Management

As with all hardware in the computer, the memory (RAM) and central processing unit (CPU) must be managed by a part of the operating system.

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Purpose of memory manager

  • The memory manager controls the allocation of random access memory (RAM) to each running process.
  • If the memory manager fails to manage memory well, then the computer will slow down and might crash.
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Purpose of process manager

  • Modern operating systems allow users to run multiple programs at once.
  • In reality, a CPU can only execute one process at a time. So the CPU must switch between processes so quickly that it seems that they are running simultaneously.
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Multitasking

  • Modern operating systems allow multiple applications to run at once. This is known as multitasking.
  • For this to work, the operating system must manage how memory and CPU time is allocated to each running process.

Jump to other topics

1Components of a Computer

2Software & Software Development

3Exchanging Data

4Data Types, Data Structures & Algorithms

5Legal, Moral, Cultural & Ethical Issues

6Elements of Computational Thinking

6.1Thinking Abstractly

6.2Thinking Ahead

6.3Thinking Procedurally

6.4Thinking Logically

6.5Thinking Concurrently

7Problem Solving & Programming

8Algorithms

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