CST334: Journal Entry Week 4

The primary focus of this week's study was the detailed examination of virtual and physical memory addressing, including an in-depth analysis of VPN (Virtual Page Number) bits, PFN (Page Frame Number) bits, and the process of translating virtual addresses to physical addresses, as well as converting physical addresses back to virtual addresses. I have been approaching the problem from several angles, with each attempt making me more confident in my ability to convert addresses.


Additionally, we explored the methods for distinguishing VPN bits from offset bits within a virtual address space. The process of calculating the Page Table Entry (PTE) from the VPN and offset involves utilizing binary operations, specifically developing an understanding of how the PTE contains indexing information. From the retrieved PTE, the next step is to extract the PFN by applying a binary mask to isolate the relevant bits, typically through a bitwise AND operation (PTE & mask). This operation effectively filters out extraneous bits, leaving only the PFN, which indicates the specific page frame in physical memory. 

Finally, by combining the derived PFN with the offset, we reconstruct the physical address. The easiest thing for me to talk about is hexadecimal and binary conversions, as it is something I am very familiar with and have been since my computer science journey began. I can see how this can be applied by being able to create database programs to be able to efficiently read, write, and execute data from memory addresses. I have never thought about VPNs, PFNs, or PTEs, as I never knew they even existed. I am grateful to learn now, knowing that this is quite a useful skill to have.

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