A narrow depression, notch, or slit for receiving or admitting something, such as a coin. Also: a position in a sequence or schedule, or the place of a team in an ice hockey game. Synonyms: hole, slit, trough, recess.
In computing, a slot is a portion of CPU resources reserved to perform a computational operation, such as reading or writing data to/from memory. Typically, each application gets one or more slots and is allowed to use those resources as needed. When a processor is busy with another task, the currently executing application may be moved to a different slot to free up resources. Similarly, a memory block might be swapped into or out of a slot to change its underlying address.
A slot is a unit of capacity for processing SQL queries in BigQuery, either on a dedicated basis or on an autoscaled basis. Query performance depends on the number of slots available and the query’s complexity. If your BigQuery account has an autoscaled slot allocation model, you can control how many slots are allocated to each query through the quotas setting. You can also configure a reservation with an autoscaled slot allocation model to ignore idle slots, allowing queries running in that reservation to share unused slots with other reservations within the same administration project.
On the on-demand pricing model, BigQuery automatically allocates a default amount of slot capacity to each query. Access to more slots improves query performance. If you need more capacity than what’s available, you can purchase additional slots through the BigQuery admin console.
Moreover, you can set up your own autoscaled slot allocation rules by using a custom slot template. The slot template is a file in your config/autoscaler directory that specifies how many slots should be allocated to a query and what parameters should be passed into the query when it executes. The template can be used to create a new autoscaled slot, or you can add it to an existing one.
In linguistics, a slot is a position in a construction that can be filled by any of several possible morphemes, or morpheme sequences. The word slot was derived from the Middle Low German word slotte or Old Norse slott, and is cognate with English lock. A slot is sometimes used as a synonym for gap or hole, but it has additional connotations in the context of computer security. A gap or hole can be plugged with a patch or software, but a security hole might be exploited by hackers to gain access to a system. For this reason, it is important to understand the security implications of a slot. A gap or security hole that can be exploited by malware is known as a bug. A security hole that is intentionally left open by a hacker, on the other hand, is known as a backdoor. This type of vulnerability is often exploited by malicious programs to steal sensitive information.