Editing Write-only memory (joke)

{{Short description|Humorous fictional type of computer memory}}

'''Write-only memory''' ('''WOM'''), the opposite of [[read-only memory]] (ROM), began as a humorous reference to a memory device that could be written to but not read, as there seemed to be no practical use for a memory circuit from which data could not be retrieved. However, it was eventually recognized that [[write-only memory (engineering)|write-only memory]] also describes certain functionalities in [[microprocessor]] systems.<ref>{{cite book|title=1976 WESCON technical papers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2klGAQAAIAAJ|accessdate=May 20, 2013|date=September 14–17, 1976|publisher=Western Electronic Show and Convention|location=Los Angeles, California|page=17|archive-date=June 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627174515/http://books.google.com/books?id=2klGAQAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> The concept is still often used as a [[joke]] or [[euphemism]] for a failed memory device.

The first use of the term is generally attributed to [[Signetics]], whose ''write-only memory'' literature, created in 1972 as in-house practical joke, is frequently referenced within the [[electronics industry]],<ref name="origin">{{cite web | url = http://portal.national.com/rap/Story/WOMorigin.html | title = The origin of the WOM – the "Write Only Memory" | first = Robert A | last = Pease | author-link = Bob Pease | publisher = National Semiconductor | accessdate = 2011-11-28 | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110910041413/http://portal.national.com/rap/Story/WOMorigin.html | archivedate = 10 September 2011 | url-status = dead }}.</ref> a staple of software engineering lexicons,<ref name = Jargon>{{cite web | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20111107100120/http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/W/write-only-memory.html | accessdate = 28 November 2011 | archivedate = 7 November 2011 | url = http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/W/write-only-memory.html | title =write-only memory|work = The [[Jargon File]] | publisher = CatB | editor-link = Eric S. Raymond | editor-last = Raymond | editor-first = Eric S}}</ref> and included in "best hoaxes" collections.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}

==Signetics==
A "Write-Only Memory" datasheet was created "as a lark"<ref>{{Citation |url = http://www.sigwom.com/?page_id=17 |title = Sigwom |access-date = 2014-12-16 |archive-date = 2016-02-19 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160219044114/http://www.sigwom.com/?page_id=17 |url-status = live }}.</ref> by Signetics engineer John G "Jack" Curtis,<ref name = Sigwom>{{Citation |url = http://www.sigwom.com/ |title = Sigwom |access-date = 2014-12-16 |archive-date = 2019-01-23 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190123035308/http://www.sigwom.com/ |url-status = live }}.</ref> inspired by a fictitious and humorous vacuum tube datasheet<ref>''Wemac 1Z2Z Slightly Tentative Data'', Eitel-McCullough, Inc. 1953, itself a successor to ''Umac 606 Infernal Anode Phantasatron Data Sheet'', Eitel-McCullough, Inc., 1950, both referenced on [http://www.sigwom.com/?p=186 "Wemac 1Z2Z Data Sheet", sigwom.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160223223041/http://www.sigwom.com/?p=186 |date=2016-02-23 }}. Note the reference to 'encabulitzation' in the 1Z2Z data sheet.</ref> from the 1940s. Considered "an icebreaker", it was deliberately included in the Signetics catalog.<ref name = Sigwom />

Roy L Twitty, a Signetics PR representative, released a tongue-in-cheek press release touting WOM on April 1, 1973.<ref>{{Citation |url = http://www.ariplex.com/tina/tsignet1.htm |editor = Tina |title = Funny pages |contribution = The original papers on the invention of the best electro… |access-date = 2014-12-20 |archive-date = 2019-09-05 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190905130517/http://www.ariplex.com/tina/tsignet1.htm |url-status = live }}</ref> Instead of the more conventional characteristic curves, the 25120 "fully encoded, 9046×N, Random Access, write-only-memory" data sheet included meaningless diagrams of "bit capacity vs. Temp.", "Iff vs. Vff", "Number of pins remaining vs. number of socket insertions", and "[[Acceptable quality limit|AQL]] vs. selling price". The fictional device required a 6.3&nbsp;V[[Alternating current|<sub>AC</sub>]] V<sub>ff</sub> ([[vacuum tube]] filament) supply, a +10&nbsp;V<sub>cc</sub> (double the V<sub>cc</sub> of standard [[Transistor-transistor logic|TTL]] logic of the day), and V<sub>dd</sub> of 0±2% volt (i.e. [[Ground (electricity)|ground]]). It was specified to run between 0 and −70&nbsp;°C.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Signetics |url=http://www.national.com/rap/files/datasheet.pdf |title=Signetics 25120 Fully Encoded, 9046xN, Random Access Write-Only-Memory |first=John G ‘Jack’ |last=Curtis |year=1972 |accessdate=2012-03-16 |type=photocopy |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316141638/http://www.national.com/rap/files/datasheet.pdf |archivedate=March 16, 2012 }}.</ref>

==Apple==
In 1982, [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] published their official ''Apple IIe Reference Manual'' (part number A2L2005),<ref>{{Citation |url = https://archive.org/details/a2_reference_manual |title = Apple IIe Reference Manual |publisher = Apple Computer |year = 1982 |id = part number A2L2005}}, 266 pp.</ref> which included two references to write-only memory:

On page 233:
* ''[[bit bucket]]:'' The final resting place of all information; see ''write-only memory''.

On page 250:
* ''write-only memory:'' A form of computer memory into which information can be stored but never, ever retrieved, developed under government contract in 1975 by Professor Homberg T. Farnsfarfle. Farnsfarfle's original prototype, approximately one inch on each side, has so far been used to store more than 100 trillion words of surplus federal information. Farnsfarfle's critics have denounced his project as a six-million-[[dollar]] [[boondoggle]], but his defenders point out that this excess information would have cost more than 250 billion dollars to store in conventional media.

Originally written by [[Bruce Tognazzini]], the write-only memory definition was not without its share of internal controversy. The second sentence originally read, "Approximately one inch on each side, Farnsfarfle's original prototype has so far been used...." The editors insisted the original contained a misplaced modifier whereas Tognazzini was equally adamant that Farnsfarfle was a very small man. The editors won.<ref>Ecphorizer, The, A Mensa Magazine #46, June 1985, pp 21-22.</ref><ref>Sworn testimony of Mr. Tognazzini (His actual swear words deleted).</ref>

==Book==
The 1995 ''[[Computer Contradictionary]]'' book discusses EWOM, or Erasable Write-Only Memory (an analogy of [[EPROM]]), a memory copyrighted by IBM (Irish Business Machines), which allows the data to be written to and then erased, for memory re-use.<ref>{{Citation |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tZKCZje8178C&pg=PA69 |title = EWOM |format = Google books |page = 69 |isbn = 9780262611121 |last1 = Kelly-Bootle |first1 = Stan |year = 1995 |publisher = MIT Press |access-date = 2016-10-20 |archive-date = 2020-02-20 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200220232917/https://books.google.com/books?id=tZKCZje8178C&pg=PA69 |url-status = live }}.</ref>

With the explosive growth of the amount of digital video data online and in private use, there emerged a common joke that [[video tape]]s and other analog video media were "write only memory", as very little of it was still viewed.<ref>{{Citation |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=dRn5-nSYMwwC&pg=PA49 |title = Advances in Visual Information Systems: 4th International Conference, VISUAL. |format = Google books |page = 49 |isbn = 9783540411772 |last1 = Laurini |first1 = Robert |date = 2000-10-18|publisher = Springer }}.</ref><ref>{{Citation |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Fqk-eKrlFHkC&pg=PA61 |title =Forensic Digital Imaging and Photography |first1 = Herbert L |last1 = Blitzer |first2 = Jack |last2 = Jacobia |format = Google books |page = 61 |isbn =9780121064112 |year =2002|publisher =Academic Press }}.</ref>

==Other members of the family==

The 25120 WOM joined a family of equally useless, fictitious devices made before and since, including the dark bulb, dark-emitting diode, WAS gate, and Inoperational Amplifier;<ref>[https://www.edn.com/electronics-products/electronic-product-reviews/reader-s-choice-2015/4439097/Zener-enhanced-Dark-Emitting-Diodes--ZeDEDs--deliver-10X-more-Dark-Flux-Watt Zener-enhanced Dark Emitting Diodes (ZeDEDs) deliver 10X more Dark per Watt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619163934/https://www.edn.com/electronics-products/electronic-product-reviews/reader-s-choice-2015/4439097/Zener-enhanced-Dark-Emitting-Diodes--ZeDEDs--deliver-10X-more-Dark-Flux-Watt |date=2018-06-19 }}, Lee Goldberg -April 01, 2015, EDN</ref> and earlier, the Umac 606 Infernal Anode Phantasatron and the Electrovoice Rearaxial Softspeaker.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.tubecollectors.org/archives/606.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2018-06-19 |archive-date=2017-07-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170721171557/http://www.tubecollectors.org/archives/606.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> (The [[Phantastron]] is a real, if obsolete, circuit for generating precision sawtooth waves.)

==See also==
*{{annotated link|/dev/null}}
*{{annotated link|FINO}}
*{{annotated link|Turboencabulator}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

[[Category:Computer memory]]
[[Category:Computer humour]]
[[Category:April Fools' Day]]
[[Category:American inventions]]