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Bomb (symbol)
Encyclopedia
A bomb symbol is an image used to represent a bomb
. It has several different applications, specifically in computing
.
designed by Susan Kare
that was displayed inside the System Error alert box when the "classic" Macintosh operating system
(pre-Mac OS X
) had a crash
in which the system decided it was unrecoverable. It was similar to a dialog box
in Windows 9x
that said "This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down. If the problem persists,contact the program vendor". But, since the "classic" Mac OS
offered little memory protection
, an application crash would often take down the entire system.
The bomb symbol first appeared on the original Macintosh in 1984. Often, a reason for the crash including the error code was displayed in the dialog. If a person was lucky, a "Resume" button would be an option, which could be used to dismiss the dialog and force the offending program to quit, but most often the resume button would be grayed out and the computer would have to be restarted. Originally, the resume button was unavailable unless the running program had provided the OS with code to allow recovery by passing a resume procedure to InitDialogs. With the advent of System 7, if the OS thought it could handle recovery, a normal error dialog box was displayed, and the application was forced to quit. That was helped by the classic Mac OS providing a little bit of protection against heap corruption using heap zones, if the application was to crash and the application's heap was corrupt, it could be thrown away.
The debugger program MacsBug
was sometimes used even by end users to provide basic (though not always reliable) error recovery, and could be used for troubleshooting purposes much as the output of a Unix
kernel panic
or a Windows NT
Blue Screen of Death
could be. Mac OS Classic bomb boxes were often ridiculed for providing little or no useful information about the error; this was a conscious decision by the Macintosh team to eliminate any information that the end user could not make sense of.
In Mac OS X
, the system architecture is vastly different from that in the classic Mac OS
, and an application crash can not usually bring down the entire system. A kernel panic
screen (either text overwritten on the screen in older versions, or simplified to a reboot message in more recent versions) replaces the bomb symbol but appears less often due to the radically different system architecture. The bomb symbol is not used in Mac OS X.
In the original Mac OS, the operating system call to display a "bomb box" was named DSError, and the corresponding alert table information was stored in resources of type 'DSAT'. "DS" stood first for "Deep Shit", as in the "Deep Shit Manager," and later for "Dire Straits". For documentation purposes, this was renamed the 'System Error Manager.'
systems, such as the Atari ST
, also used bombs as the indication for an error. When a system error occurred, a row of bombs
, variable in number, would show up on the screen and then disappear. A complete system crash resulted in the screen filled with bombs, which could not be removed without a hard reboot.
use the bomb symbol to represent a "dud", or an album deemed of poor quality.
Bomb
A bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...
. It has several different applications, specifically in computing
Computing
Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and improving computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...
.
In computing
Mac OS
The Bomb icon is a symbolSymbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
designed by Susan Kare
Susan Kare
Susan Kare is an artist and graphic designer who created many of the interface elements for the Apple Macintosh in the 1980s. She was also one of the original employees of NeXT , working as the Creative Director.-Background:Kare was born in Ithaca, New York and is the sister of aerospace engineer...
that was displayed inside the System Error alert box when the "classic" Macintosh operating system
Mac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
(pre-Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
) had a crash
Crash (computing)
A crash in computing is a condition where a computer or a program, either an application or part of the operating system, ceases to function properly, often exiting after encountering errors. Often the offending program may appear to freeze or hang until a crash reporting service documents...
in which the system decided it was unrecoverable. It was similar to a dialog box
Dialog box
In a graphical user interface of computers, a dialog box is a type of window used to enable reciprocal communication or "dialog" between a computer and its user. It may communicate information to the user, prompt the user for a response, or both...
in Windows 9x
Windows 9x
Windows 9x is a generic term referring to a series of Microsoft Windows computer operating systems produced since 1995, which were based on the original and later modified Windows 95 kernel...
that said "This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down. If the problem persists,contact the program vendor". But, since the "classic" Mac OS
Mac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
offered little memory protection
Memory protection
Memory protection is a way to control memory access rights on a computer, and is a part of most modern operating systems. The main purpose of memory protection is to prevent a process from accessing memory that has not been allocated to it. This prevents a bug within a process from affecting...
, an application crash would often take down the entire system.
The bomb symbol first appeared on the original Macintosh in 1984. Often, a reason for the crash including the error code was displayed in the dialog. If a person was lucky, a "Resume" button would be an option, which could be used to dismiss the dialog and force the offending program to quit, but most often the resume button would be grayed out and the computer would have to be restarted. Originally, the resume button was unavailable unless the running program had provided the OS with code to allow recovery by passing a resume procedure to InitDialogs. With the advent of System 7, if the OS thought it could handle recovery, a normal error dialog box was displayed, and the application was forced to quit. That was helped by the classic Mac OS providing a little bit of protection against heap corruption using heap zones, if the application was to crash and the application's heap was corrupt, it could be thrown away.
The debugger program MacsBug
MacsBug
MacsBug is a low-level debugger for pre-Mac OS X Macintosh operating systems. MacsBug is an acronym for Motorola Advanced Computer Systems Debugger, as opposed to Macintosh debugger...
was sometimes used even by end users to provide basic (though not always reliable) error recovery, and could be used for troubleshooting purposes much as the output of a Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
kernel panic
Kernel panic
A kernel panic is an action taken by an operating system upon detecting an internal fatal error from which it cannot safely recover. The term is largely specific to Unix and Unix-like systems; for Microsoft Windows operating systems the equivalent term is "Bug check" .The kernel routines that...
or a Windows NT
Windows NT
Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. It was a powerful high-level-language-based, processor-independent, multiprocessing, multiuser operating system with features comparable to Unix. It was intended to complement...
Blue Screen of Death
Blue Screen of Death
To forse a BSOD Open regedit.exe,Then search: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\i8042prt\ParametersThen make a new DWORD called "CrashOnCtrlScroll" And set the value to 1....
could be. Mac OS Classic bomb boxes were often ridiculed for providing little or no useful information about the error; this was a conscious decision by the Macintosh team to eliminate any information that the end user could not make sense of.
In Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
, the system architecture is vastly different from that in the classic Mac OS
Mac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
, and an application crash can not usually bring down the entire system. A kernel panic
Kernel panic
A kernel panic is an action taken by an operating system upon detecting an internal fatal error from which it cannot safely recover. The term is largely specific to Unix and Unix-like systems; for Microsoft Windows operating systems the equivalent term is "Bug check" .The kernel routines that...
screen (either text overwritten on the screen in older versions, or simplified to a reboot message in more recent versions) replaces the bomb symbol but appears less often due to the radically different system architecture. The bomb symbol is not used in Mac OS X.
In the original Mac OS, the operating system call to display a "bomb box" was named DSError, and the corresponding alert table information was stored in resources of type 'DSAT'. "DS" stood first for "Deep Shit", as in the "Deep Shit Manager," and later for "Dire Straits". For documentation purposes, this was renamed the 'System Error Manager.'
Atari ST TOS
TOS-basedAtari TOS
TOS is the operating system of the Atari ST range of computers. This range includes the 520 and 1040ST, their STF/M/FM and STE variants and the Mega ST/STE. Later, 32-bit machines were developed using a new version of TOS, called MultiTOS, which allowed multitasking...
systems, such as the Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
, also used bombs as the indication for an error. When a system error occurred, a row of bombs
Row of bombs
TOS-based systems, such as the Atari ST, used a row of bombs to indicate a critical system error. The number of bombs displayed revealed information about the occurred error. The error is reported by the Motorola 68000 microprocessor...
, variable in number, would show up on the screen and then disappear. A complete system crash resulted in the screen filled with bombs, which could not be removed without a hard reboot.
Media reviews
Album reviews by Robert ChristgauRobert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
use the bomb symbol to represent a "dud", or an album deemed of poor quality.