On Thu, Dec 22, 2005 at 11:00:02AM -0500, William Case wrote: > Hi; > > Simple question which I can't find an answer to. Probably because it is > so basic. > > Whenever a processor fetches a dWord from memory, is the word *always* > copied to the processor or is it in fact moved -- leaving, as it were, a > blank (Ox0000) at that particular address? Yes, memory is almost always copied. Sometimes, a program will zero out the original location; but otherwise the source is usually left untouched. > Post-amble > > As I read, I see lots of copying operations; fork, add, compare, etc.; > but when I look at the schematics for memory or the instruction set for > IA-32, I don't see a way to distinguish between move operation or a copy > operation. If its always one or the other it is understandable. If > coping or moving are options, then it gets confusing. Memory is very rarely moved; it is usually copied -Ross