An interactive tool to understand and analyze FIFO, LRU, and Optimal algorithms
FIFO is the simplest page replacement algorithm. It works just like a queue. When a page fault occurs, it replaces the page that has been in memory for the longest time.
Key Point: It can suffer from Belady's Anomaly, where increasing the number of frames might paradoxically increase the page fault rate. Our analyzer can help you spot this!
LRU operates on the principle of locality of reference. When a page fault occurs, it replaces the page that has not been used for the longest amount of time. It performs well but is more complex to implement than FIFO.
The Optimal algorithm is the gold standard. It replaces the page that will not be used for the longest period in the future. It guarantees the minimum possible number of page faults but is impossible to implement in a real system as it requires future knowledge.