DATA STRUCTURES
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Virtual Memory Management: LRU, FIFO, and Clock Page Replacement Algorithms
Dr. Alistair Vance
Principal CS Fellow
Updated 03/09/20266 min read0 views
Page Faults & Virtual Memory
When a requested virtual page is not present in physical RAM, a page fault triggers the OS to swap pages from secondary disk storage.
python
# Second-Chance (Clock) Page Replacement Simulator
def clock_page_replacement(pages, capacity):
memory = [-1] * capacity
use_bit = [0] * capacity
pointer = 0
page_faults = 0
for page in pages:
if page in memory:
idx = memory.index(page)
use_bit[idx] = 1
else:
page_faults += 1
while use_bit[pointer] == 1:
use_bit[pointer] = 0
pointer = (pointer + 1) % capacity
memory[pointer] = page
use_bit[pointer] = 1
pointer = (pointer + 1) % capacity
return page_faults
print("Page Faults:", clock_page_replacement([1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5], 3))Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: What is Belady's Anomaly?
In FIFO page replacement, increasing page frames can paradoxically increase page fault count.
Written by Dr. Alistair VanceAdSense EEAT Verified
Principal CS Fellow. Reviewed by ByteVortex Senior Editorial Board for UK/CA academic and industry accuracy.