The slot is a narrow opening, groove or slit. It may also refer to:
An area in a book or magazine that holds a specific item or information.
A time-slot in a TV show, newspaper, or other media: The show was scheduled to air at 8:00 pm.
The place in a series or schedule where a particular episode is to be broadcast: The series will now be shown at 9:00 pm on Mondays.
In computer science, a number of elements must be synchronized to create a slot: the input stream must be read and processed in the correct order to ensure that all output streams are issued correctly. Without this, a system would not be able to operate.
A space or gap in a wall or other structure that can be used to pass wires, pipes, etc., or for attachment of other objects.
An empty or open position, either in a job, a class or a place in a line-up.
In computing, the area of memory used for storing program data or instructions. A slot is also the term for an allocated space in the memory hierarchy, and it is usually referred to by the slot number of a processor or main memory system unit (CPU).
One of a series of openings in a fence, gate, door, or other security device, used for locking. Also a narrow gap between the primaries of an airplane wing, designed to allow airflow over the wings and facilitate lift.
A place or period in a sequence, schedule, or order: The doctor has a 4 p.m. appointment tomorrow.
In a television program, the time-slot when a certain show is scheduled to be shown: The new show was slated for the 8pm Sunday night slot.
The position in a team’s game plan or in an organization, either actual or imaginary: The quarterback has the slot for completing passes to the wide receivers.
A slot in a cable street-railroad, through which the grip on a railroad car passes to connect with the traveling cable. Also, the narrow continuous opening through which a cable travels along a rail.
An allocated space in a data warehouse or database, either dedicated to a specific query or shared with multiple queries. The amount of space allocated to a query depends on the query size and complexity and the number of shared slots in the database.
The BigQuery scheduler uses an algorithm called fair scheduling to evenly distribute slots among jobs in a reservation. For short periods, some jobs might receive a disproportionate share of slots, but the scheduler eventually corrects this. Idle slots that were previously occupied by a running query are quickly preempted, so there might be a brief time when total slot usage exceeds your specified slot capacity. However, you aren’t charged for this excess slot usage. Assignments of type ML_EXTERNAL and QUERY are exceptions in that the scheduler doesn’t consider these jobs to be part of the reservation baseline and they don’t use idle slots.