Write-only memory

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The write-only memory (abbreviated: WOM , German: only write memory) is the joking antonym to read-only memory . The write-only memory is a WORN device (write once read never, compare WORM ).

origin

In the early 1970s, an engineer at Signetics , frustrated by lengthy approval procedures without any actual tests, created the specification of a write-only memory device. This has actually been approved and has been added to the catalog for new products. After the first inquiries about price and availability came in, the managers at Signetics took notice and tried to replace the catalogs that had already been distributed with newly printed ones. Having become aware of the joke, many customers kept their catalog.

In 1974 Signetics published a two-page colored data sheet of the Signetics' Model 25120 “fully encoded, 9046 x N random access, write only memory” in Electronics Magazine as an April Fool's joke . In this data sheet, the usual information has been poked fun at by corruption , exaggeration or understatement, or nonsensical information has been given in the usual form in a data sheet so that it appears plausible at first glance.

Use

Write-only memory is only of practical use in very special cases. There are very few practical applications that are essentially write-only memory and for which its functionality is required.

  • If a program outputs a data stream that is of no interest (e.g. if error messages are automatically output, but they are of no interest (for whatever reason), they can be redirected to write-only memory become. The messages are then written in there, but nobody needs to read them out. / dev / null is a write-only memory of this kind. The Discard network service is a write-only memory for a computer network.

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