Memory management in an operating system mainly focuses on?

1. Allocating memory to processes: The operating system is responsible for allocating memory to processes as they are created or requested. This involves managing the available memory space and ensuring that each process has enough memory to execute properly.

2. Deallocating memory: Once a process has finished executing, the operating system must deallocate the memory that was allocated to it. This involves releasing the memory back to the system so that it can be used by other processes.

3. Memory protection: The operating system must ensure that processes do not access memory that does not belong to them. This involves setting up memory protection mechanisms to prevent processes from accessing unauthorized memory locations.

4. Memory swapping: When the system runs out of physical memory, the operating system may need to swap out some of the memory contents to disk in order to free up space. This involves moving data between the main memory and secondary storage to optimize memory usage.

5. Memory fragmentation: Over time, memory can become fragmented, meaning that there are small gaps of unused memory scattered throughout the system. The operating system must manage memory fragmentation to ensure that memory is used efficiently and effectively.

Overall, memory management in an operating system focuses on optimizing the use of memory resources, ensuring that processes have access to the memory they need, and protecting the system from memory-related issues such as fragmentation and unauthorized access.