C++内存管理_1_3_地址线和总线

事实上这些翻译的很不完整，也有很多失误吧，因为水平不足哈，只是自己的爱号，所以才做的，希望大大们能指点下

Address Lines and Buses

Each byte in DRAM is assigned a unique numeric identifier called an address, just like houses on a street. An address is an integer value. The first byte in memory is assigned an address of zero. The region of memory near address zero is known as the bottom of memory, or low memory. The region of memory near the final byte is known as high memory. The number of physical (i.e., DRAM) bytes that a processor is capable of addressing is known as the processor's physical address space. (See Figure 1.3.)

 

DRAM中的每个字节都有一个唯一数据标识符，称之为地址，就像一条街中的房子。地址是一个整型值。存储器中的第一个字节的地址为0。靠近0地址的区域被称之为bottom of memory或low memory。靠近最后字节的区域称之为high memory。处理器能够访问到的字节数取决于processor's physical address space。

 

注：processor's physical address space，大约是说处理器的寻址能力吧。最后一句话的意思应该是并不是存储器有多大，处理器就能访问到所有的地址。

 

The physical address space of a processor specifies the potential number of bytes that can be addressed, not the actual number of physical bytes present. People normally don't want to spend the money necessary to populate the entire physical address space with DRAM chips. Buying 4GB of DRAM is still usually reserved for high-end enterprise servers.

The physical address space of a processor is determined by the number of address lines that it has. Address lines are a set of wires connecting the processor to its DRAM chips. Each address line specifies a single bit in the address of a given byte. For example, the Intel Pentium has 32 address lines. This means that each byte is assigned a 32-bit address so that its address space consists of 2³² addressable bytes (4GB). The 8088 had 20 address lines, so it was capable of addressing 2²⁰, or 1,048,576, bytes.

Note

If virtual memory is enabled on the Pentium 4, there is a way to enable four additional address lines using what is known as Physical Address Extension (PAE). This allows the Pentium processor's physical address space to be defined by 36 address lines, which translates into an address space of 236 bytes (64GB).

 

The physical address space of a processor 决定了能够寻址到的最大地址，而并不是存储器中的全部地址。一般没人愿意花钱去买更多的内存来把主板上的内存槽插满，购买4GB大小的DRAM一般用于高端的企业服务器。

The physical address space of a processor决定于它所拥有的Address lines数目。Address lines是一组连接处理器和DRAM芯片的线路。每根Address line对应地址中的一个位。例如Intel Pentium有32根address lines，这意味着内存中的每一个字节对应一个32位大小的地址，因此Intel Pentium的寻址能力为2的32次方，能访问到的空间大小为4GB，而8088有20根address lines，因此它的寻址能力为2的20次方，能访问到的空间大小为2的20次方字节，即1,048,576 bytes。

 

Note:如果Pentium 4中的虚拟内存被激活，there is a way to enable four additional address lines using what is known as Physical Address Extension (PAE)。这将允许Pentium处理器的寻址空间达到64GB（36根地址线）

 

To access and update physical memory, the processor uses a control bus and a data bus. A bus is a collection of related wires that connect the processor to a hardware subsystem. The control bus is used to indicate if the processor wants to read from memory or write to memory. The data bus is used to ferry data back and forth between the processor and memory. (See Figure 1.4.)

为了访问或更新内存，处理器使用控制总线和数据总线。总线是一组连接处理器和硬件系统的线路。控制总线用于表示处理器是从内存中读出数据或者写入数据，数据总线用于将内存中的数据读出或者写入。

When the processor reads from memory, the following steps are performed:

1.    The processor places the address of the byte to be read on the address lines.

2.    The processor sends the read signal on the control bus.

3.    The DRAM chip(s) return the byte specified on the data bus.

When the processor writes to memory, the following steps are performed:

1.    The processor places the address of the byte to be written on the address lines.

2.    The processor sends the write signal on the control bus.

3.    The processor sends the byte to be written to memory on the data bus.

This description is somewhat of an oversimplification. For example, the Pentium processor reads and writes data 4 bytes at a time. This is one reason why the Pentium is called a 32-bit chip. The processor will refer to its 32-bit payload using the address of the first byte (i.e., the byte with the lowest address). Nevertheless, I think the general operation is clear.

事实上这个描述过于简单，例如Pentium处理器一次读或者写入4字节的数据，而不是1字节。这就是Pentium被称做32位芯片的原因之一。The processor will refer to its 32-bit payload using the address of the first byte（也就是处理器根据这个地址同时获得这个地址下面的3字节数据）。不过，我认为总的过程还是比较清晰的。