AI engineering glossary · Computing foundations
What is page fault?
Page fault: An event that occurs when a program touches a memory page that is not currently loaded in RAM. The operating system pauses the program, loads the page from disk, and resumes it, which costs far more time than a normal memory access.
Page fault: an example
Opening a huge memory-mapped file triggers page faults as each section is read for the first time.
Related terms
More Computing foundations terms
Where you learn it
Page fault is part of the AI Engineering Program, which teaches it with notes, a hands-on lab and an exam. The first lesson is free.