Bit bucket

The chad receiver (or "bit bucket") from a UNIVAC key punch

In computing jargon, the bit bucket (or byte bucket) is the notional, metaphorical destination of any computerized data which does not go to a useful destination, for any reason. For example, the bit bucket may refer to the destination of data lost in transmission, or data lost in a computer crash, or simply data which is intentionally discarded.

The errant byte, having failed the parity test, is unceremoniously dumped into the bit bucket, the computer's wastepaper basket.

— Erik Sandberg-Diment, New York Times, 1985.

The term is also used metaphorically to refer to any waste in pursuit of computer science:

Millions of dollars in time and research data gone into the bit-bucket?

— W. Paul Blase, The Washington Post, 1990.

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