Memory Address

Abstract

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• Can be either Virtual Address or Physical Address
• For a k-bit address, the addressable space is 2
• Largest address possible is 2^k-1, because we count from 0

Byte Addressing

• 1 Byte for every Memory Address

Word Addressing

• 1 Word for every Memory Address

Memory Addressing

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• Methods used to access data stored

Sequential Addressing

• Ordered access, time depends on position
• One example is tape storage

Direct Addressing

• The data retrieval time depends on the current and target positions of the read/write head. Unlike sequential addressing, the head can jump directly to the target location, bypassing everything in between.
• One example is Hard Disk

Random Access Addressing

• Allows direct access to any memory location in constant time. This means a specific memory address can be accessed instantly, regardless of its position within the memory, exhibiting $O(1)$ time complexity. This contrasts with sequential access, where memory must be accessed in order, or direct addressing, which requires jumping to a specific location
• One example is DRAM

Associative Addressing

• Content-based access method where there is no specific memory address to expect the data. The storage system stores both the data and the address it originated from, associating a tag in the cache with the corresponding location in the main memory
• One example is CPU Cache which is SRAM

References

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• Ep 072: Memory Hierarchy Addressing Modes and SRAM versus DRAM Technology - YouTube