Program page reference patterns

This paper describes a set of measurements of the memory reference patterns of some programs. The technique used to obtain these measurements is unusually efficient. The data is presented in graphical form to allow the reader to "see" how the program uses memory. Constant use of a page and sequential access of memory are easily observed. An attempt is made to classify the programs based on their referencing behavior. From this analysis it is hoped that the reader will gain some insights as to the effectiveness of various memory management policies.