If you use Mozy for your online backup service, you’ll notice the status, “reticulating splines” sometimes appears in the application. So, just what does this mean? Well, Mozy says:
Reticulation is a process whereby a continuous function is reduced to fixed points on a lattice, or network. Splines are mathematical representations of curves determined by a finite number of points. While processing and encrypting your files, MozyHome needs to reticulate your splines.
If that’s not helpful enough, read up on this intriguing term on Wikipedia’s page on Sim City:
SimCity 2000 was the first Sim game to feature the semi-nonsensical phrase “Reticulating Splines”, which means to make a network of splines. Will Wright has stated in an interview that the game does not actually reticulate splines when generating terrain, and he just inserted the phrase because it “sounded cool.” The phrase has since been featured in SimCopter, SimCity 4, The Sims, The Sims 2, Spore and The Sims 3 (Reticulating 4D Splines), as well as being referenced by a status message in Mozy, an off-site backup solution offered by EMC Corporation.
So while Mozy is probably busy doing something when it reports “reticulating splines,” it’s probably not exactly reducing fixed points of a parametric curve on the network.
Tags: Mozy
