31 lines
4.6 KiB
HTML
31 lines
4.6 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>bit bucket</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../B.html" title="B"/><link rel="previous" href="bit-bashing.html" title="bit bashing"/><link rel="next" href="bit-decay.html" title="bit decay"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">bit bucket</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="bit-bashing.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">B</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="bit-decay.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="bit-bucket"/><dt xmlns="" id="bit-bucket"><b>bit bucket</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [very common] </p></dd><dd><p> 1. The universal data sink (originally, the mythical receptacle used
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to catch bits when they fall off the end of a register during a shift
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instruction). Discarded, lost, or destroyed data is said to have <span class="firstterm">gone to the bit bucket</span>. On
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<a href="../U/Unix.html"><i class="glossterm">Unix</i></a>, often used for
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<a href="../0/dev-null.html"><i class="glossterm">/dev/null</i></a>. Sometimes amplified as <span class="firstterm">the Great Bit Bucket in the Sky</span>. </p></dd><dd><p> 2. The place where all lost mail and news messages eventually go.
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The selection is performed according to
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<a href="../F/Finagles-Law.html"><i class="glossterm">Finagle's Law</i></a>; important mail is much more likely to end up in the bit
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bucket than junk mail, which has an almost 100% probability of getting
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delivered. Routing to the bit bucket is automatically performed by
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mail-transfer agents, news systems, and the lower layers of the network.
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</p></dd><dd><p> 3. The ideal location for all unwanted mail responses: “<span class="quote">Flames
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about this article to the bit bucket.</span>” Such a request is guaranteed
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to overflow one's mailbox with flames. </p></dd><dd><p> 4. Excuse for all mail that has not been sent. “<span class="quote">I mailed you
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those figures last week; they must have landed in the bit bucket.</span>”
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Compare <a href="black-hole.html"><i class="glossterm">black hole</i></a>.</p></dd><dd><p>This term is used purely in jest. It is based on the fanciful notion
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that bits are objects that are not destroyed but only misplaced. This
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appears to have been a mutation of an earlier term ‘bit box’,
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about which the same legend was current; old-time hackers also report that
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trainees used to be told that when the CPU stored bits into memory it was
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actually pulling them “<span class="quote">out of the bit box</span>”. See also
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<a href="../C/chad-box.html"><i class="glossterm">chad box</i></a>.</p><p>Another variant of this legend has it that, as a consequence of the
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“<span class="quote">parity preservation law</span>”, the number of 1 bits that go to the
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bit bucket must equal the number of 0 bits. Any imbalance results in bits
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filling up the bit bucket. A qualified computer technician can empty a
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full bit bucket as part of scheduled maintenance.</p><p>The source for all these meanings, is, historically, the fact that
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the <a href="../C/chad-box.html"><i class="glossterm">chad box</i></a> on a paper-tape punch was sometimes
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called a bit bucket.</p><div class="mediaobject"><a id="crunchly75-10-04"/><img src="../graphics/75-10-04.png"/><div class="caption"><p>A literal <a href="bit-bucket.html"><i class="glossterm">bit bucket</i></a>.</p><p>(The next cartoon in the Crunchly saga is
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<a href="../W/washing-machine.html#crunchly76-02-14">76-02-14</a>. The previous one is
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<a href="bit-bucket.html#crunchly75-10-04">75-10-04</a>.)</p></div></div></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="bit-bashing.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../B.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="bit-decay.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">bit bashing </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> bit decay</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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