Sandbox

For information about the child's play area, see sand art and play. For the "sandbox" to experiment with editing Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Sandbox.

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In computer software, the sandbox is the 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. It is named after the sand-covered area in a children's playground where the children can play with minimal risk of injury from falling.

Similarly, in software development the term sandbox 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 presense of such a safe, controlled environment allows developers to try experimental code without fear of damaging a mission-critical system.

In Military training a sandbox is a box of sand used in conjunction with military models to model terrain and demonstrate tactics.