Address space

In computing, an address space defines a range of discrete addresses, each of which may correspond to a network host, peripheral device, disk sector, a memory cell or other logical or physical entity.

Overview

For software programs to save and retrieve data, each unit of data must have an address where it can be individually located. The number of address spaces available will depend on the underlying address structure and these will usually be limited.

Address spaces are created by combining enough uniquely identified qualifiers to make an address unambiguous (within a particular address space). For a person's physical address, the address space would be a combination of locations, such as a neighborhood, town, city, or country. Some elements of an address space may be the same– but if any element in the address is different than addresses in said space will reference different entities. An example could be that there are multiple buildings at the same address of "32 Main Street" but in different towns, demonstrating that different towns have different, although similarly arranged, street address spaces.