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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>Parkinson's Law of Data</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="../P.html" title="P"/><link rel="previous" href="parity-errors.html" title="parity errors"/><link rel="next" href="parm.html" title="parm"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Parkinson's Law of Data</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="parity-errors.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">P</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="parm.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="Parkinsons-Law-of-Data"/><dt xmlns="" id="Parkinsons-Law-of-Data"><b>Parkinson's Law of Data</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">prov.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> &#8220;<span class="quote">Data expands to fill the space available for storage</span>&#8221;;
buying more memory encourages the use of more memory-intensive techniques.
(The original 1958 Parkinson's Law described the structural tendency of
bureaucracies to make work for themselves.) It has been observed since the
mid-1980s that the memory usage of evolving systems tends to double roughly
once every 18 months. Fortunately, memory density available for constant
dollars also tends to about double once every 18 months (see
<a href="../M/Moores-Law.html"><i class="glossterm">Moore's Law</i></a>); unfortunately, the laws of physics
guarantee that the latter cannot continue indefinitely.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="parity-errors.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../P.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="parm.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">parity errors </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> parm</td></tr></table></div></body></html>