What is "pipeline"

pipeline \pipeline\, pipe line \pipe line\

1. A line of pipe with pumping machinery and apparatus for conveying liquids, gases, or finely divided solids, such as petroleum or natural gas, between distant points.

2. fig. an information channel direct from the source.

3. the set of stages and processes from the invention or design of a product to its ultimate use, production, or commercial sale. Used commonly in the phrase

   in the pipeline, i. e. still in preparation or under development.

1859, "continuous line of pipes," from pipe (n.1) + line (n.). Figurative sense of "channel of communication" is from 1921; surfer slang meaning "hollow part of a large wave" is attested by 1963.

n. 1 a conduit made of pipes used to convey water, gas or petroleum etc 2 a channel (either physical or logical) by which information is transmitted sequentially (that is, the first information in is the first information out). 3 a system through which something is conducted 4 (context surfing English) The inside of a wave that a surfer is riding, when the wave has started closing over it. vb. 1 (context transitive English) To convey something by a system of pipes 2 (context transitive English) To lay a system of pipes through something 3 (context computing transitive English) To design (a microchip etc.) so that processing takes place in efficient stages, the output of each stage being fed as input to the next.

1. n. gossip spread by spoken communication; "the news of their affair was spread by word of mouth" [syn: grapevine, word of mouth]

2. a pipe used to transport liquids or gases; "a pipeline runs from the wells to the seaport" [syn: line]

Pipeline may refer to:

In Unix-like computer operating systems, a pipeline is a sequence of processes chained together by their standard streams, so that the output of each process ( stdout) feeds directly as input ( stdin) to the next one.

The concept of pipelines was championed by Douglas McIlroy at Unix's ancestral home of Bell Labs, during the development of Unix, shaping its toolbox philosophy. It is named by analogy to a physical pipeline.

The standard shell syntax for pipelines is to list multiple commands, separated by vertical bars ("pipes" in common unix verbiage). For example, to list files in the current directory , retain only the lines of output containing the string , and view the result in a scrolling page , a user types the following into the command line of a terminal:

"ls -l" produces a process, the output (stdout) of which is piped to the input (stdin) of the process for "grep key"; and likewise for the process for "less". Each process takes input from the previous process and produces output for the next process via standard streams. Each "" tells the shell to connect the standard output of the command on the left to the standard input of the command on the right by an inter-process communication mechanism called an (anonymous) pipe, implemented in the operating system. Pipes are unidirectional, data flows through the pipeline from left to right.

In computing, a pipeline is a set of data processing elements connected in series, where the output of one element is the input of the next one. The elements of a pipeline are often executed in parallel or in time-sliced fashion; in that case, some amount of buffer storage is often inserted between elements.

Computer-related pipelines include:

• Instruction pipelines, such as the classic RISC pipeline, which are used in central processing units (CPUs) to allow overlapping execution of multiple instructions with the same circuitry. The circuitry is usually divided up into stages, including instruction decoding, arithmetic, and register fetching stages, wherein each stage processes one instruction at a time.
• Graphics pipelines, found in most graphics processing units (GPUs), which consist of multiple arithmetic units, or complete CPUs, that implement the various stages of common rendering operations ( perspective projection, window clipping, color and light calculation, rendering, etc.).
• Software pipelines, where commands can be written where the output of one operation is automatically fed to the next, following operation. The Unix system call pipe is a classic example of this concept, although other operating systems do support pipes as well.
• HTTP pipelining, where multiple requests are sent without waiting for the result of the first request.

In software engineering, a pipeline consists of a chain of processing elements ( processes, threads, coroutines, functions, etc.), arranged so that the output of each element is the input of the next; the name is by analogy to a physical pipeline. Usually some amount of buffering is provided between consecutive elements. The information that flows in these pipelines is often a stream of records, bytes or bits, and the elements of a pipeline may be called filters; this is also called the pipes and filters design pattern. Connecting elements into a pipeline is analogous to function composition.

Narrowly speaking, a pipeline is linear and one-directional, though sometimes the term is applied to more general flows. For example, a primarily one-directional pipeline may have some communication in the other direction, known as a return channel or backchannel, as in the lexer hack, or a pipeline may be fully bi-directional. Flows with one-directional tree and directed acyclic graph topologies behave similarly to (linear) pipelines – the lack of cycles makes them simple – and thus may be loosely referred to as "pipelines".

Pipeline (Cormick Grimshaw) is a fictional character, a mutant in the Marvel Comics Universe. His first appearance was in Uncanny X-Men #235 (1988).

Pipeline is a computer game for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron, originally published by Superior Software in 1988. It is an overhead view action role-playing game set on a mining platform. The game was very well received by the gaming press. It was more recently remade for Microsoft Windows as Pipeline Plus.

Pipeline is a film about the story of six childhood friends who paddled into the waves at Banzai Pipeline on the night of October 14, 2001. However, only five paddled back to shore . . . Four years later, the survivors are haunted by the memory of what they vowed to forget.

"Pipeline" is a surf rock song by the Chantays, which was recorded in 1962.

The tune, originally called "Liberty's Whip", was renamed after the band members saw a surfing movie showing scenes of the Banzai Pipeline in Hawaii. The tune, fitting in with the popular surfing craze of the time, swiftly rose up the Billboard Pop charts, reaching #4, and becoming a classic hit of its time. The tune is notable for using Alberti bass arpeggios.

Although they had myriad surf tunes, "Pipeline" was the Chantays' only hit single, and is considered one of the landmarks of the surf genre. The track's distinctive sound was largely due to the mix being "upside down"; the bass guitar, electric piano and rhythm guitar were at the forefront, while the lead guitar and drums were buried. Although the 45-rpm was released only in monaural, the track was recorded in wide stereo, with the rhythm guitar hard left, the bass and drums hard right, and the electric piano and lead guitar centered. Modern reissues, beginning with the 1984 MCA Records 7" single, are stereophonic.

In November 1997, the Chantays recorded a new acoustic version of the tune, entitled "Pipeline Unplugged", which was released on their album Waiting for the Tide.

The original release was on Downey 104-B, and was picked up for nationwide distribution by Dot Records, which released it as Dot 16440-B. The band's 45-rpm releases spelled their name as "Chantay's", with the greengrocer's apostrophe. The ostensible A-side, "Move It", never charted, making this release an example of a "flipped disc".

The song was previously used as background music for BBC Match of the Day "Goal of the Month" competition. It was also used for many years during the 1980s and 1990s as the entrance music for the Edmonton Oilers ice hockey team at home games in the Northlands Coliseum; "pipeline" being a pun on the oil industry.