What is address binding in operating systems?

Binding process

The distinction between logical memory addresses and physical memory addresses enables address virtualization. However, it is to be discretely noted that the actual required instructions or values are stored in physical memory only and each virtual address is decoded back into the physical memory address.

Address binding refers to the translation of provided virtual address spaces to actual physical memory address spaces to execute the program. There are different modes and sequences in which addresses are bound to their true value.

Program to a process

While a program refers to a file that consists of a set of executable instructions, a process is the precise execution of those instructions.

Note: Address binding forms an essential phase of converting a program to a process instance.

Different types of an address binding

There are precisely three distinct mechanisms for binding addresses based on the differences in the virtual address in question.

• Compile time binding: Symbolic variablesNamed variables declared within the program. in processes that have their memory location specified before execution and are translated into absolute addressesActual physical memory addresses at the time of compilation.

• Load time binding: Symbolic variables in processes that do not have their memory location specified before execution and are translated into relocatable addressesAddresses that specify the relative position of the address from the start of the program. at the time of loading.

• Runtime or execution binding: Binding is uncertain due to the likelihood that the process might be changed from one memory slot to another during execution. Hence, address binding is done at the execution time of the process.

Address binding allows the appropriate mapping of virtual memory addresses to physical memory references. This allows for performing the correct process executions.