Cache coloring

In computer science, cache coloring (also known as page coloring) is the process of attempting to allocate free pages that are contiguous from the CPU cache's point of view, in order to maximize the total number of pages cached by the processor. Cache coloring is typically employed by low-level dynamic memory allocation code in the operating system, when mapping virtual memory to physical memory. A virtual memory subsystem that lacks cache coloring is less deterministic with regards to cache performance, as differences in page allocation from one program run to the next can lead to large differences in program performance. In computer science, cache coloring (also known as page coloring) is the process of attempting to allocate free pages that are contiguous from the CPU cache's point of view, in order to maximize the total number of pages cached by the processor. Cache coloring is typically employed by low-level dynamic memory allocation code in the operating system, when mapping virtual memory to physical memory. A virtual memory subsystem that lacks cache coloring is less deterministic with regards to cache performance, as differences in page allocation from one program run to the next can lead to large differences in program performance.