[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.
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {alpha particles}{bit decay}{cosmic rays}{link rot}{schroedinbug}{software rot}{sunspots}]