Pipeline

Pipeline may refer to:

Infrastructure

Technology

Pipeline (computing)

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:

Pipeline (Unix)

In Unix-like computer operating systems (and, to some extent, Microsoft Windows), a pipeline is a set of processes chained by their standard streams, so that the output of each process (stdout) feeds directly as input (stdin) to the next one. Filter programs are often used in this configuration.

The concept of pipelines was invented by Douglas McIlroy at Unix's ancestral home of Bell Labs, prior to the actual invention of the operating system, and implemented in Unix at his insistence, shaping its toolbox philosophy. It is named by analogy to a physical pipeline. The standard shell syntax for pipelines is to list multiple programs to invoke in one command, separated by vertical bars:

Each program is assumed to take input and give output on its standard streams. Each "|" tells the shell to connect the standard output of the left program to the standard input of the right program by an inter-process communication mechanism called an (anonymous) pipe, implemented in the operating system. Since pipes are unidirectional, data flows through the pipeline from left to right.