NeverMindMePlease

Feedback on Orphan (computing)

I would say the topic is Wiki-notable.

The article needs an orderly progression more along the lines of:

1) A simple definition of term that a layman can undertand, that also includes the definition and significance of a "parent". (Note that your first reference almost seems to contradict the definition that you gave.)

2) Examples. Trim the examples to their most basic elements. This is too discursive:

"If an application was to be installed onto one's computer, then certain files might be created at the time of installation. If the application was then later to be deleted or uninstalled, but these files were left alone, they would be orphan files."

...as opposed to an encyclopedia's formal language:

A file becomes orphaned when the process that created the file terminates without placing it where the file can be easily used or found. Installation programs often have this deficiency.

3) What's missing in the article is any sense of why orphans are bad, what their impact is, how they are found. In some cases orphans just use up disk space. In other cases orphans imply lost or corrupt data.

Hope that helps!

P.S. Although this article is only vaguely related, you might want to mention it as a "See also". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_process. You definitely want to make sure that someone looking for one doesn't find the other instead. So at least put a line in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_(disambiguation) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.210.208.107 (talk) 21:49, 6 March 2011 (UTC)