Bit bucket
In computing jargon, the bit bucket (or byte bucket[2][3]) is where lost computerized data has gone, by any means; any data which does not end up where it is supposed to, being lost in transmission, a computer crash, or the like, is said to have gone to the bit bucket – that mysterious place on a computer where lost data goes, as in:
The errant byte, having failed the parity test, is unceremoniously dumped into the bit bucket, the computer's wastepaper basket.—Erik Sandberg-Diment, New York Times, 1985.[4]
Millions of dollars in time and research data gone into the bit-bucket?—W. Paul Blase, The Washington Post, 1990.[5]
History
Originally, the bit bucket was the container on teletype machines or IBM key punch machines into which chad from the paper tape punch or card punch was deposited;[1] the formal name is "chad box" or (at IBM) "chip box". The term was then generalized into any place where useless bits go, a useful computing concept known as the null device. The term bit bucket is also used in discussions of bit shift operations.[6]
The bit bucket is related to the first in never out buffer and write-only memory, in a joke datasheet issued by Signetics in 1972.[7]
In a 1988 April Fool's article in Compute! magazine, Atari BASIC author Bill Wilkinson presented a POKE that implemented what he called a "WORN" (Write Once, Read Never) device, "a close relative of the WORM".[8]
In programming languages the term is used to denote a bitstream which does not consume any computer resources, such as CPU or memory, by discarding any data "written" to it. In .NET Framework-based languages, it is the System.IO.Stream.Null.[9]
See also
- Black hole (networking)
- Waste container metaphors
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Introduction to Computer Programming. Prentice-Hall. 1964. p. 108. https://books.google.com/books?id=8ecmAAAAMAAJ&q=bucket. Retrieved 2013-11-08. "The lost bits fall into a container called a bit bucket. They are emptied periodically and the collected bits are used for confetti at weddings, parties, and other festive occasions."
- ↑ "Explicit Controls". MCS-86 Assembler Operating Instructions For ISIS-II Users (A32/379/10K/CP ed.). Santa Clara, California, USA: Intel Corporation. 1978. p. 3-3. Manual Order No. 9800641A. https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_intelISISIblerOperatingInstructionsforISISIIUsersM_3593319. Retrieved 2020-02-29. "[…] If you want a summary of errors but not a listing file this is the command: […] -ASM86 LOOT.SRC PRINT(:BB:) ERRORPRINT […] Note that the :BB: is the "byte bucket"; ISIS-II ignores I/O commands from and to this "device". It is a null device. […]" [1][2]
- ↑ "Appendix A. ASM-86 Invocation". CP/M-86 – Operating System – Programmer's Guide (3 ed.). Pacific Grove, California, USA: Digital Research. January 1983. p. 94: Table A-3. Device Types. http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/digitalResearch/cpm-86/CPM-86_Programmers_Guide_Jan83.pdf. Retrieved 2020-02-27. [3] (NB. Digital Research's ASM-86 uses token 'Z' (for "zero") to indicate the byte bucket.)
- ↑ "Parity: An Elegantly Simple Approach to Errors". The New York Times (New York, N.Y., USA): p. 4. 1985-07-09. Section C. https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/09/science/personal-computing-parity-an-elegantly-simple-approach-to-errors.html.
- ↑ "No Harmless Hacker He". The Washington Post (Washington, D.C., USA). 1990-02-17. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1990/02/17/no-harmless-hacker-he/46728304-40ba-4899-96a2-3f67742f4923/.
- ↑ The Apollo Guidance Computer: Architecture and Operation (illustrated ed.). Springer Science & Business Media. 2010-06-25. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-44190877-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=3fKzL0HfJp4C&pg=PA45. Retrieved 2013-11-08.
- ↑ "Signetics 25120 Fully Encoded, 9046xN, Random Access Write-Only-Memory". Signetics. 1972. http://www.national.com/rap/files/datasheet.pdf.
- ↑ "That month again". Compute!. INSIGHT: Atari (95): 56. April 1988. http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue95/056_1_INSIGHT_ATARI_THAT_MONTH_AGAIN.php. Retrieved 2020-02-27.
- ↑ "Demonstrate the use of the Null stream as a bit bucket: Stream Null « File Stream « C# / C Sharp". Demo Source and Support. http://www.java2s.com/Code/CSharp/File-Stream/DemonstratetheuseoftheNullstreamasabitbucket.htm.
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