First-In First-Out Page Replacement Algorithm

The first-in, first-out (FIFO) page replacement algorithm is a low-overhead algorithm that requires little book-keeping on the part of the operating system. The operating system maintains a list of all pages currently in memory, with the page at the head of the list the oldest one and the page at the tail the most recent arrival. On a page fault, the page at the head is removed and the new page added to the tail of the list.
It is not strictly necessary to record the time when a page is brought in. We can create a FIFO queue to hold all the pages in memory. We replace the page at the head of the queue. When a page is brought into memory, we insert it at the tail of the queue.

While FIFO is cheap and intuitive, it performs poorly in practical application. Thus, it is rarely used in its unmodified form. The page replaced may be an initialization module that was used a long time ago and is no longer needed. On the other hand, it could contain a heavily used variable that was initialized early and is in constant use.
FIFO page replacement algorithm is used by the VAX/VMS operating system, with some modifications. Partial second chance is provided by skipping a limited number of entries with valid translation table references, and additionally, pages are displaced from process working set to a system wide pool from which they can be recovered if not already re-used.