What is segmentation?

In a segmented memory management scheme a programmer views a program to be collection of program components called as segments. Every segment is a logical unit of a program as defined by the programmer's design. In programming terms a segment typically contains of s set of procedures or data and forms a module of some software system. The inspiration for segmentation is to group together procedures and data which possess common attributes for sharing by other procedures. This is beneficial for implementing protection in a large software system. The user therefore specifies every address by two quantities that are a segment name and an offset. For the ease of implementation segments are numbered and are referred to by a segment number, relatively than by a segment name. Therefore the logical address consists of a two tuple: