From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids
A patch can refer to several different things:
- a piece of textile or fabric used to repair a hole in a larger piece
- a patch (synthesizer) is a sound setting for musical synthesizers
- a patch cable, an electrical cable which can be used to alter the functionality of a piece of electrical equipment, such as a musical modular synthesizers.
- a transdermal patch (such as a nicotine patch used to quit smoking, or a contraceptive patch used to prevent pregnancy)
- A telephone patch is any connection between a phone line and another communications device, whether it be a radio, a tape recorder, a data device (such as a modem), or even another phone line. Sometimes called an autopatch especially when used in amateur radio
- an American Kennel Club registered name as well as a popular name to call a pet dog
- practice of compulsory figures in figure skating
- an insignia used as an identification mark by members of a group, or as a souvenir
- a small garden, or a place where specific fruits or vegetables are grown (e.g. pumpkin patch)
- In railfan terminology, a locomotive or freight car that has been renumbered without a full repaint
- A group of company houses
- "Patches (Chairmen of the Board song)", a hit record for Chairmen of the Board, later covered by Clarence Carter
[edit] Computing
- Patch (computing), a fix for a software program where the actual binary executable and related files are modified. Often this is used to repair a software bug
- patch (Unix), a UNIX utility that applies a script generated by the diff program to a set of files, allowing changes from one file to be automatically applied to another file.
- A 3-D Bézier curve used in computer graphics, or a primitive in some 3-D software packages
- The name of an IBM utility to edit binary files (typically on mainframe installations, eg. MVS)
