write-only memory

1. jargon, humour (WOM) The obvious antonym to "read-onlymemory" (ROM).

Out of frustration with the long and seemingly useless chain

of approvals required of component specifications, during

which no actual checking seemed to occur, an engineer at

Signetics once created a specification for a write-only memory

and included it with a bunch of other specifications to be

approved. This inclusion came to the attention of Signetics

management only when regular customers started calling and

asking for pricing information. Signetics published a

corrected edition of the data book and requested the return of

the "erroneous" ones. Later, around 1974, Signetics bought a

double-page spread in "Electronics" magazine's April issue and

used the spec as an April Fools' Day joke. Instead of the

more conventional characteristic curves, the 25120 "fully

encoded, 9046 x N, Random Access, write-only-memory" data

sheet included diagrams of "bit capacity vs. Temp.", "Iff

vs. Vff", "Number of pins remaining vs. number of socket

insertions", and "AQL vs. selling price". The 25120 required

a 6.3 VAC VFF supply, a +10V VCC, and VDD of 0V, +/- 2%.

2. bit bucket.

[Jargon File]