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- For the Wikipedia sandbox for editing experiments see Wikipedia:sandbox
A large, loosely contained sandbox
A sandbox (US) or sandpit (UK) is a low, wide container or shallow depression filled with sand in which children can play. Sandboxes are often found on playgrounds but — unlike most playground equipment — are easy enough to construct that they often occur in back yards of homes, as well. Sandboxes encourage children's imaginations as they build small cities or sandcastles; use toy trucks, shovels, and buckets to move the sand around; dig holes and bury things; in other words, the sand provides a medium in which children can pretend to explore, construct, and destruct the world in three dimensions.
The "box" is simply any method of containing the sand so that it doesn't spread outward across lawns, sidewalks, or other surrounding surfaces. So a sandbox provides a safe, contained area that prevents wild, imaginative experiments and sand, which has an inherent tendency to spread, from cascading into the "real" world.
Boxes of various shapes are often constructed from planks, logs, or other large wooden frames that allow children easy access to the sand and also provide a convenient place to sit. However, small sandboxes are also available for purchase. These are usually made from plastic and are often shaped like an animal or other familiar object. They also sometimes have lids, to cover the sand when children aren't using it, thereby preventing wandering cats from using the play area as their personal litterbox.
The "sandbox" metaphor leads to the term's use in a variety of other contexts.
In computer software, sandbox is an informal name given to the limited execution environment in which untrusted programs are run. The boundaries of this notional box limit the scope of a malicious program to cause damage to the computer system as a whole. In the Java system, for example, most applets are run in a software sandbox.
Similarly, in software development the term is used to refer to a test system which replicates (often in reduced size or capacity) the actual computing environment for which software is being developed. The presence of such a safe, controlled environment allows developers to try experimental code without fear of damaging a mission-critical system.
On Unix systems, one of the ways to construct one of these kinds of sandboxes is to use the chroot command. One common kind of sandbox built this way is known as a chroot jail.
Sandbox may also refer to:
- In military education and training a sandbox is a box of sand used in conjunction with military models to model terrain and demonstrate tactics that may be applicable in the field.
- In US military slang, the term Sandbox has been in frequent use from at least the late 1990s to refer collectively to the Middle Eastern nations located on the Persian Gulf, to which personnel are frequently assigned for overseas duty, both before and after Operation Iraqi Freedom. This term is often used in an attempt to speak somewhat jocularly about the desert-characterized region in which daily life for US military personnel can be grueling or at least frequently uncomfortable.
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