Swap

Definitions

1. Disk space used as virtual memory when physical RAM is full. The OS 'swaps' memory pages to disk — functional but orders of magnitude slower. If your server is swapping heavily, you either need more RAM or fewer ambitions.

   In plain English: When your computer runs out of RAM, it temporarily moves some data to the hard drive to free up space. It works, but it's dramatically slower — like using a filing cabinet when your desk is full.

Related Terms

• Garbage Collection
• heap
• garbage collector
• Page Fault
• L1 Cache
• L2 Cache
• L3 Cache
• Latency Budget
• Object Pool
• Page Cache
• Rehydration
• Stack Frame
• String Pool
• Volatile
• Weak Map
• Weak Set
• Write Back