Unit 1 - Operating System Overview - 2 marks solution

1.          What is meant by principle of locality of reference?

Locality of reference can be used to predict what instructions and data a program will use in the near future based on its accesses in the recent past. Locality of references is of two types:

Temporal locality – Programs tend to reuse data and instructions they have used recently in the near future.

Spatial locality – in programs, instructions and related data tends to cluster.