Segmentation, Page Fault, and Access Violation
A segmentation fault occurs when a program attempts to access a memory location that it is not allowed to access, or attempts to access a memory location in a way that is not allowed (for example, attempting to write to a read-only location, or to overwrite part of the operating system).
Segmentation is a historic term for the approach to memory management nowadays known as paging (see e.g. Lions' Commentary on UNIX 6th Edition, with Source Code), but the term is still used in the context of "segmentation fault".
On Unix-like operating systems, a signal called SIGSEGV is sent to a process that accesses an invalid memory address. On Microsoft Windows, a process that accesses invalid memory receives the STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION exception.
Read more about this topic: Segmentation Fault
Famous quotes containing the words page, access and/or violation:
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—John Steinbeck (1902–1968)
“Whilst the rights of all as persons are equal, in virtue of their access to reason, their rights in property are very unequal. One man owns his clothes, and another owns a country.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)