swapstrategy

Swapstrategy is a term used in computing and finance to describe a policy or approach for using swap operations to manage resources or risk. In computing, a swap strategy governs when and how pages are moved between physical memory and swap space on disk, and which pages are evicted when memory is tight. This aspect is a key part of virtual memory management. The goal is to balance memory usage with the cost of I/O, aiming to minimize overall latency. Common swap strategies include algorithms that approximate least recently used (LRU) behavior, such as clock or aging variants, as well as first-in-first-out or not-recently-used approaches. The effectiveness of a swap strategy depends on workload characteristics, memory pressure, and available I/O bandwidth. Poor choices can lead to thrashing, where excessive paging degrades performance. Administrators may tune parameters like swappiness, swap file size, and memory overcommitment to influence behavior. In modern systems, swap strategies can be adaptive, adjusting reclaim decisions based on observed access patterns and memory activity.

In finance, a swap strategy refers to the use of interest rate swaps, currency swaps, or other swap instruments to manage risk, alter cash flows, or adjust debt maturity. Common goals include transforming floating-rate debt to fixed-rate, aligning asset and liability durations, or hedging exposure to interest rates or exchange rates. Strategies may involve layering swaps across maturities, employing basis swaps to exploit curve differences, or combining cross-currency arrangements. Risks include counterparty credit risk, market risk, liquidity risk, and model risk.

See also: virtual memory, page replacement algorithm, swappiness, interest rate swap, cross-currency swap.