Address binding in Operating System

In this article, you will learn about the address binding in the operating system with its types.

What is address binding in the operating system?

The Address Binding refers to the mapping of computer instructions and data to physical memory locations. Both logical and physical addresses are used in computer memory. It assigns a physical memory region to a logical pointer by mapping a physical address to a logical address known as a virtual address. It is also a component of computer memory management that the OS performs on behalf of applications that require memory access.

Types of Address Binding in Operating System

There are mainly three types of an address binding in the OS. These are as follows:

1. Compile Time Address Binding
2. Load Time Address Binding
3. Execution Time or Dynamic Address Binding

Compile Time Address Binding

It is the first type of address binding. It occurs when the compiler is responsible for performing address binding, and the compiler interacts with the operating system to perform the address binding. In other words, when a program is executed, it allocates memory to the system code of the computer. The address binding assigns a logical address to the beginning of the memory segment to store the object code. Memory allocation is a long-term process and may only be modified by recompiling the program.

Load Time Address Binding

It is another type of address binding. It is done after loading the program in the memory, and it would be done by the operating system memory manager, i.e., loader. If memory allocation is specified when the program is assigned, no program in its compiled state may ever be transferred from one computer to another. Memory allocations in the executable code may already be in use by another program on the new system. In this case, the logical addresses of the program are not connected to physical addresses until it is applied and loaded into memory.

Execution Time or Dynamic Address Binding

Execution time address binding is the most popular type of binding for scripts that aren't compiled because it only applies to variables in the program. When a variable in a program is encountered during the processing of instructions in a script, the program seeks memory space for that variable. The memory would assign the space to that variable until the program sequence finished or unless a specific instruction within the script released the memory address connected to a variable.