Sandbox (software development)

A sandbox is a

Sandboxing protects "live" servers and their data, vetted source code distributions, and other collections of code, data and/or content, proprietary or public, from changes that could be damaging to a mission-critical system or which could simply be difficult to revert, regardless of the intent of the author of those changes. Sandboxes replicate at least the minimal functionality needed to accurately test the programs or other code under development (e.g. usage of the same environment variables as, or access to an identical database to that used by, the stable prior implementation intended to be modified; there are many other possibilities, as the specific functionality needs vary widely with the nature of the code and the application[s] for which it is intended).

The concept of sandboxing is built into

By further analogy, the term "sandbox" can also be applied in computing and networking to other temporary or indefinite isolation areas, such as security sandboxes and search engine sandboxes (both of which have highly specific meanings), that prevent incoming data from affecting a "live" system (or aspects thereof) unless/until defined requirements or criteria have been met.

Sandboxing (see also ' soft launching') is often considered a best practice when making any changes to a system, regardless of whether that change is considered 'development', a modification of configuration state, or updating the system.^[3]

The term sandbox is commonly used for the development of

Wikis also typically employ a shared sandbox model of testing, though it is intended principally for learning and outright experimentation with features rather than for testing of alterations to existing content (the wiki analog of source code). An edit preview mode is usually used instead to test specific changes made to the texts or layout of wiki pages.

• Comparison of online source code playgrounds
• OS-level virtualization
• Pastebin
• Sandbox (computer security)
• Sandbox effect (search engines)
• Sandbox (video game editor)
• Sandbox game