In computer science, locality of reference, also known as the principle of locality, is the phenomenon of the same value or related storage locations being frequently accessed. There are two basic types of reference locality. Temporal locality refers to the reuse of specific data and/or resources within relatively small time durations. Spatial locality refers to the use of data elements within relatively close storage locations. Sequential locality, a special case of spatial locality, occurs when data elements are arranged and accessed linearly, e.g., traversing the elements in a one-dimensional array.
Locality is merely one type of predictable behavior that occurs in computer systems. Systems which exhibit strong locality of reference are good candidates for performance optimization through the use of techniques like the cache and instruction prefetch technology for memory or the advanced branch predictor at the pipelining of processors.
Read more about Locality Of Reference: Locality of Reference, Reasons For Locality, Use of Locality in General, Use of Spatial and Temporal Locality: Hierarchical Memory, Spatial and Temporal Locality Example: Matrix Multiplication
Famous quotes containing the words locality and/or reference:
“The most interesting thing which I heard of, in this township of Hull, was an unfailing spring, whose locality was pointed out to me on the side of a distant hill, as I was panting along the shore, though I did not visit it. Perhaps, if I should go through Rome, it would be some spring on the Capitoline Hill I should remember the longest.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Meaning is what essence becomes when it is divorced from the object of reference and wedded to the word.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)