What is Segmentation? (Operating System)

• Paged virtual memory is one-dimensional in which virtual addresses goes from 0 to some maximum address
• A segment is a logical entity. It might contain a procedure, or an array, or a stack, or a collection of scalar variables, but usually it doesn’t contain a mixture of different types.
• Segmentation is the mechanism that provides the machine with multiple completely independent address spaces. Thus segmentation provides two-dimensional address space. Each segment consists of linear sequence of addresses, from 0 to some maximum

• To specify an address in this segmented or 2-dimensional memory, the program must supply a 2-part virtual address: 1) segment number(s) and 2) an address within the segment called offset (s).
• Virtual address to physical address translation process is shown in figure below: