What is a Logical Address?
A logical address, also known as a virtual address, is an address generated by the CPU during program execution. It is the address seen by the process and is relative to the program’s address space. The process accesses memory using logical addresses, which are translated by the operating system into physical addresses. An address that is created by the CPU while a program is running is known as a logical address. Because the logical address is virtual—that is, it doesn’t exist physically—it is also referred to as such. The CPU uses this address as a reference to go to the actual memory location. All logical addresses created from a program’s perspective are referred to as being in the “logical address space”. This address is used as a reference to access the physical memory location by CPU. The term Logical Address Space is used for the set of all logical addresses generated by a program’s perspective.
Logical and Physical Address in Operating System
A logical address is generated by the CPU while a program is running. The logical address is a virtual address as it does not exist physically, therefore, it is also known as a Virtual Address. The physical address describes the precise position of necessary data in a memory. Before they are used, the MMU must map the logical address to the physical address. In operating systems, logical and physical addresses are used to manage and access memory. Here is an overview of each in detail.