locality of reference

Also known as "locality in space" and "spatial locality," it refers to the fact that most instructions in a program are in routines that are executed over and over, and that these routines are in a reasonably confined area. It also refers to data fields in close proximity to each other.

This is the principle behind memory and disk caches, in which data or instructions are placed in higher-speed memory and get read many times before the memory is overwritten by another set. See cache.

Copyright © 1981-2025 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.

All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.