Sandpit

For the "sandbox" to experiment with editing Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Sandbox.

A large, loosely contained sandbox

A sandbox is a low, wide container filled with sand in which children can play. Sandboxes are often found on playgrounds but—unlike most playground equipment—are easy enough to construct that they often occur in back yards of homes, as well. Sandboxes encourage children's imagination, as they build small cities or sandcastles; use toy trucks, shovels, and buckets to move the sand around; dig holes and bury things; in other words, the sand provides a medium in which children can pretend to explore, construct, and destruct the world in three dimensions.

The box part is simply any method of containing the sand so that it doesn't spread outward across lawns, sidewalks, or other surrounding surfaces. So a sandbox provides a safe, contained area that prevents wild, imaginative experiments and sand, which is inherently spreading, from cascading into the "real" world.

Boxes of various shapes are often constructed from planks, logs, or other large wooden frames that allow children easy access to the sand and also provide a convenient place to sit. However, small sandboxes are also available for purchase. These are usually made from plastic and are often shaped like an animal or other familiar object. They also sometimes have lids, to cover the sand when children aren't using it, thereby preventing wandering cats from using the play area as their personal litterbox.

The sandbox metaphor leads to the term's use in a variety of other contexts.

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 presence of such a safe, controlled environment allows developers to try experimental code without fear of damaging a mission-critical system.

See also