About
In a linear address space, memory appears to a program as a single, continuous address space.
An address for any byte in linear address space is called a linear address.
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Addressing
One Linear address corresponds to one location in the Linear address space.
Linear address space is byte addressable, with addresses running contiguously from 0 to 232 - 1 (if not in 64-bit mode).
Usage
Flat memory model
In the flat memory model, the component of a program (Code, Data, and stacks) are all contained in a linear address space (and are therefore not split)
Segmented memory model
The segmented model is mapped into a linear address space.
- All the segments are mapped into the processor’s linear address space.
- Each logical address (segment address) are mapped into a linear address.
Paging
When an operating system or executive uses paging, the application sees a linear address space (the paging mechanism is transparent to the application program).
A linear address space is the only address space that can be paged.
Type
Processor
The processor address space is linear and is called the physical address space