David C. Wood

Distributions of segment sizes measured under routine operating conditions on a computer system which utilizes variable sized segments (the Burroughs B5500) are discussed. The most striking feature of the measurements is the large number of small segments—about 60 percent of the segments in use contain less than 40 words. Although the results are certainly not installation independent, and although they are particularly influenced by features of the B5500 ALGOL system, they should be relevant to the design of new computer systems, especially with respect to the organization of paging schemes.