2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
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burn-in period
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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n. 1. A factory test designed to catch systems with marginal components
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before they get out the door; the theory is that burn-in will protect
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customers by outwaiting the steepest part of the bathtub curve (see infant
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mortality ). 2. A period of indeterminate length in which a person using a
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computer is so intensely involved in his project that he forgets basic needs
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such as food, drink, sleep, etc. Warning: Excessive burn-in can lead to
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burn-out. See hack mode , larval stage. Historical note: the origin of
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burn-in (sense 1) is apparently the practice of setting a new-model
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airplane's brakes on fire, then extinguishing the fire, in order to make
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them hold better. This was done on the first version of the U.S. spy-plane,
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the U-2.
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