burn-in period

2 definitions found

burn-in period - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  burn-in period
  
     1. <testing> A factory soak test intended to increase the
     chance that components that fail early due to infant mortality
      will fail before the system leaves the factory.
  
     2. <jargon> When one is so intensely involved in a new project
     that one forgets basic needs such as food, drink and sleep.
     Excessive burn-in can lead to burn-out.  See hack mode,
     larval stage.
  
     [Jargon File]
  
     (2007-01-17)
  

burn-in period - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  burn-in period
   n.
  
     1. A factory test designed to catch systems with marginal
  components
     before they get out the door; the theory is that burn-in will protect
     customers by outwaiting the steepest part of the bathtub curve (see
     infant mortality).
  
     2. A period of indeterminate length in which a person using a
  computer
     is so intensely involved in his project that he forgets basic needs
     such as food, drink, sleep, etc. Warning: Excessive burn-in can lead
     to burn-out. See hack mode, larval stage.
  
     Historical note: the origin of "burn-in" (sense 1) is apparently the
     practice of setting a new-model airplane's brakes on fire, then
     extinguishing the fire, in order to make them hold better. This was
     done on the first version of the U.S. spy-plane, the U-2.