Basic Principle
When a computer program requests blocks of memory from the computer system, the blocks are allocated in chunks. When the computer program is finished with a chunk, it can free the chunk back to the computer. The size and the amount of time a chunk is held by a program varies. During its lifespan, a computer program can request and free many chunks of memory.
When a program is started, the free memory areas are long and contiguous. Over time and with use, the long contiguous regions become fragmented into smaller and smaller contiguous areas. Eventually, it may become impossible for the program to request large chunks of memory.
Read more about this topic: Fragmentation (computing)
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