Difference between Paging and Segmentation

YASH PAL,

Difference between Paging and Segmentation – Paging is a memory management technique in which a process’s address space is broken into blocks of the same size called pages (size of a power of 2, between 512 bytes and 8192 bytes). Segmentation is a memory management technique in which each job is divided into several segments of different sizes, one for each module that contains pieces that perform related functions.

Let’s learn about the key different points between Paging and Segmentation using the table below.

PagingSegmentation
1.Paging divides the program into fixed-size pages.Paging divides the program into fixed-size pages.
2.For paging OS is responsible.For segmentation Compiler is responsible.
3.Paging is faster than segmentation.Segmentation is slower than paging.
4.Paging is closer to Operating System.Segmentation is closer to the user.
5.It suffers from internal fragmentation.It suffers from external fragmentation.
6.Paging could result in internal fragmentation.Segmentation could result in external fragmentation.
7.A logical address is divided into a page number and a page offset.A logical address is divided into a segment number and a segment offset.
8.The page table is used to maintain the page information.The segment table maintains the segment information.
9.Page table entry has the frame number and some flag bits to represent details about pages.Segment table entry has the base address of the segment and some protection bits for the segments.
Difference between Paging and Segmentation
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