Managing Memory
Computer Science: OCR A Level, topic 2.1.2
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.
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.
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.
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.
Test yourself on Managing Memory
What might happen if the memory manager does not efficiently manage the memory?
In reality, how many processes can be run on a single processor at once?