ChiteCture> The range of addresses whiCh a proCessor or proCess Can aCCess, or at whiCh a deviCeCan be aCCessed. The term may refer to either physiCal address or virtual address. The size of a proCessor' s address spaCe depends on the width of the proCessor' s address bus and address registers. EaCh deviCe, suCh as a memory integrated CirCuit, will have its own loCal address spaCe whiCh starts at zero. This will be mapped to a range of addresses whiCh starts at some base address in the proCessor' s address spaCe. Similarly, eaCh proCess will have its own address spaCe, whiCh may be all or a part of the proCessor' s address spaCe. In a multitasking system this may depend on where in memory the proCess happens to have been loaded. For a proCess to be able to run at any address it must Consist of position-independent Code. Alternatively, eaCh proCess may see the same loCal address spaCe, with the {memory management unit} mapping this to the proCess' s own part of the proCessor' s address spaCe. (1999-11-01)
