BIT ROT

Domain	Definition
Computing	Bit rot n. [common] Also bit decay. Hypothetical disease the existence of which has been deduced from the observation that unused programs or features will often stop working after sufficient time has passed, even if `nothing has changed'. The theory explains that bits decay as if they were radioactive. As time passes, the contents of a file or the code in a program will become increasingly garbled. There actually are physical processes that produce such effects (alpha particles generated by trace radionuclides in ceramic chip packages, for example, can change the contents of a computer memory unpredictably, and various kinds of subtle media failures can corrupt files in mass storage), but they are quite rare (and computers are built with error-detecting circuitry to compensate for them). The notion long favored among hackers that cosmic rays are among the causes of such events turns out to be a myth; see the cosmic rays entry for details. The term software rot is almost synonymous. Software rot is the effect, bit rot the notional cause. Source: Jargon File.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Specialty Definition: Bit rot

Bit rot is a colloquial term in computing used to describe where in software, memory or file storage, if nothing has changed, the afflicted will tend to degrade.

For example, software running without being touched could be said to suffer from bit rot if it then begins to crash afterwards. Such an effect may be due to a missed memory leak or other nonobvious software bug.

See also: link rot.

Anagrams: BIT ROT

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "b-i-o-r-t-t"
	-1 letter: britt, orbit.
	-2 letters: bitt, bort, bott, brio, brit, obit, riot, roti, tiro, toit, tori, tort, trio, trot.
	-3 letters: bio, bit, bot, bro, obi, orb, ort, rib, rob, rot, tit, tor, tot.
	-4 letters: bi, bo, it, or, ti, to.
	Words containing the letters "b-i-o-r-t-t"
	+1 letter: bistort.
	+2 letters: abattoir, bistorts, blottier, botrytis, frostbit, libretto.
	+3 letters: abattoirs, birthroot, birthwort, briolette, frostbite, librettos, obstetric, stirabout, trilobate, trilobite.
	+4 letters: arbitrator, betrothing, birthroots, birthstone, birthworts, bitterroot, botrytises, bottomries, briolettes, contribute, exorbitant, frostbites, obituarist, obliterate, obstetrics, obturating, obturation, rebottling, stirabouts, thrombotic, trabeation, trilobites, trombonist, tuberosity.
	+5 letters: abortionist, abstraction, arbitration, arbitrators, attribution, bipartition, birthstones, bitterroots, botheration, contributed, contributes, contributor, distributor, frostbiting, frostbitten, nimbostrati, obituarists, obliterated, obliterates, obliterator, obstetrical, obstructing, obstruction, obstructive, obturations, overbetting, portability, postorbital, rebuttoning, retribution, retributory, stilbestrol, sublittoral, subtraction, trabeations, tribologist, tribulation, trombonists.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.