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I am used to ‘bit rot’ refer to code becoming obsolete due to lack of maintenance. Can’t we use another term for actual hardware errors?
by superjan 5y ago
I am used to ‘bit rot’ refer to code becoming obsolete due to lack of maintenance. Can’t we use another term for actual hardware errors?
- noduerme 5y ago"sharting"
- Kimitri 5y agoIt may be a regional thing but I have never heard ”bit rot” refer to legacy code. In the retro computing circles bit rot refers to hardware defects (usually floppies or other storage media) caused by cosmic rays or other environmental hazards.
- Leparamour 5y agoI have to agree with Kimitri here. This is the only context in which I have ever encountered the term 'bit rot'.
- MayeulC 5y agoI agree this is the primary context, but I've seen unmaintained (or very old) software being reffered to as "bit rotting" by extension. As in, forward compatibility might break due to obsolete dependencies, etc.
- superjan 5y agoYeah looks like I was confusing “software rot” and “bit rot”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_rot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_rot
- fmajid 5y agoI’ve always understood “bit rot” meaning data getting silently corrupted on o storage device like a hard drive or SSD.
- joshspankit 5y agoSame here. “Bit rot” is then analogous to food rot: the longer your data sits unverified, the more likely that there will be flipped bits and therefore “rotten data”.