In computer science, a memory map is a structure of data (which usually resides in memory itself) that indicates how memory is laid out. Memory maps can have a different meaning in different parts of the operating system.
In the boot process, a memory map is passed on from the firmware in order to instruct an operating system kernel about memory layout. It contains the information regarding the size of total memory, any reserved regions and may also provide other details specific to the architecture.
In virtual memory implementations and memory management units, a memory map refers page tables, which store the mapping between a certain process's virtual memory layout and how that space relates to physical memory addresses.
In native debugger programs, a memory map refers to the mapping between loaded executable/library files and memory regions. These memory maps are used to resolve memory addresses (such as function pointers) to actual symbols.
Famous quotes containing the words memory and/or map:
“Remember thee?
Ay, thou poor ghost, whiles memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe. Remember thee?
Yea, from the table of my memory
I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past
That youth and observation copied there,
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“When I had mapped the pond ... I laid a rule on the map lengthwise, and then breadthwise, and found, to my surprise, that the line of greatest length intersected the line of greatest breadth exactly at the point of greatest depth.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)