Muistisivu

Muistisivu is a Finnish term that translates directly to "memory page" or "memory side." In computing, it refers to a specific block of memory within a computer's random-access memory (RAM) or other memory storage. The concept of a muistisivu is fundamental to how operating systems manage and allocate memory for running programs and data.

When a computer runs multiple applications, the operating system divides the available memory into smaller, fixed-size chunks called pages. A muistisivu is one such page. This paging mechanism allows the operating system to efficiently manage memory, even when the total memory required by all running processes exceeds the physical RAM available. If a program needs data or instructions that are not currently in RAM, the operating system can retrieve the relevant muistisivu from slower storage, such as a hard drive or solid-state drive, and load it into RAM. This process is known as paging in.

Conversely, if RAM becomes full, the operating system may move less-used pages out of RAM to storage to make space for more actively needed pages. This is called paging out. The size of a muistisivu can vary depending on the operating system and hardware architecture, but common sizes are 4 kilobytes. Understanding the concept of muistisivu is crucial for comprehending memory management techniques in modern computing.