What does memory management do in an OS?

Memory management is a crucial function of an operating system that involves the allocation, management, and optimization of a computer's memory resources for running applications and processes. Its primary objective is to ensure that each process has sufficient memory space to operate efficiently while preventing memory leaks and ensuring that processes do not interfere with each other’s memory allocation.

This function encompasses several tasks, including keeping track of each byte in a computer's memory, determining which processes should be loaded into memory at any given time, and managing the swapping of processes in and out of physical memory. Additionally, memory management must handle memory fragmentation, which can occur when processes are allocated and deallocated memory in a way that leaves small, unusable blocks of memory.

By allocating memory dynamically and managing it effectively, the operating system helps to optimize system performance, reduce latency in process execution, and ensure stability and security within the system. This makes memory management a fundamental aspect of operating systems, critical for facilitating multitasking capabilities and enhancing overall application performance.