Mmap

1 definition found

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  mmap
       
          The {Unix} {system call} which establishes a mapping between a
          range of addresses in a user process's address space and a
          portion of some "memory object" (typically a file, one of the
          special "devices" /dev/mem or /dev/kmem or some


          {memory-mapped} peripheral).  This allows the process to
          access a file at random byte offsets without using the seek
          {system call} or to access physical addresses or {kernel}'s
          {virtual address} space.  It can also be used as an
          alternative to writing a {device driver} since it is usually
          simpler to code and faster to use.
       
          (1995-02-14)