Difference between revisions of "User talk:Pistevo/dev/null"
(What is /dev/null, and why is it in my .sig?) |
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*"please send complaints to <tt>/dev/null</tt>" (i.e. "don't bother to send any complaints") | *"please send complaints to <tt>/dev/null</tt>" (i.e. "don't bother to send any complaints") | ||
*"my mail got archived in <tt>/dev/null</tt>" (i.e. "my mail got deleted") | *"my mail got archived in <tt>/dev/null</tt>" (i.e. "my mail got deleted") | ||
| − | * A famous advertisement for the Titanium [w:PowerBook_G4 PowerBook G4] read ''[The Titanium Powerbook G4] Sends other UNIX boxes to /dev/null''. | + | * A famous advertisement for the Titanium [[w:PowerBook_G4|PowerBook G4]] read ''[The Titanium Powerbook G4] Sends other UNIX boxes to /dev/null''. |
*A warning to users that the system's <tt>/dev/null</tt> is already 98% full. | *A warning to users that the system's <tt>/dev/null</tt> is already 98% full. | ||
| − | *The [w:April_Fool's April Fool's], [w:1995 1995] issue of the [ | + | *The [[w:April_Fool's|April Fool's]], [[w:1995|1995]] issue of the [[w:Germany|German]] magazine ''[[w:c't|c't]]'' reported on an enhanced <tt>/dev/null</tt> [[w:microprocessor|chip]] that would efficiently dispose of the incoming data by converting it to flicker on an internal glowing [[w:Light-emitting_diode|LED]]. |
==Links== | ==Links== | ||
| − | *''Source'': [w:/dev/null Wikipedia article: /dev/null] | + | *''Source'': [[w:/dev/null|Wikipedia article: /dev/null]] |
*[[User:Pistevo]] | *[[User:Pistevo]] | ||
Revision as of 10:42, December 22, 2006
What is /dev/null?
In Unix-like operating systems, /dev/null or the null device is a special file that discards all data written to it, and provides no data to any process that reads from it (it returns EOF).
In [[w:Unix|Unix] [[w:programmer|programmer] jargon, it may also be called the [[w:bit_bucket|bit bucket] or black hole. The null device is typically used for disposing of unwanted output streams of a process, or as a convenient empty file for input streams. This is usually done by redirection.
So why use it in a signature?
This entity is a common inspiration for technical jargon expressions, metaphors and technical jokes by Unix programmers, e.g.:
- "please send complaints to /dev/null" (i.e. "don't bother to send any complaints")
- "my mail got archived in /dev/null" (i.e. "my mail got deleted")
- A famous advertisement for the Titanium PowerBook G4 read [The Titanium Powerbook G4] Sends other UNIX boxes to /dev/null.
- A warning to users that the system's /dev/null is already 98% full.
- The April Fool's, 1995 issue of the German magazine c't reported on an enhanced /dev/null chip that would efficiently dispose of the incoming data by converting it to flicker on an internal glowing LED.
