NULL - The program that does nothing, and does it aggressively.
What does it do?
Nothing.
NULL simply absorbs CPU cycles that are not being used by any other application.
It does not "steal time" from applications that are doing work.
Why would I ever want to run NULL?
Good question. NULL is really only useful with Mac CPU-monitoring applications like Peek-a-Boo. NULL gives "unused" CPU cycles a definite place to go, so you can tell "used" cycles from "unused" ones.
Ordinarily, the Mac Process Manager "gives away" unused CPU cycles to a (basically random) application. So even if your Mac isn't doing ANYTHING, a CPU-monitoring program will show that some application, like the Finder, or Netscape, or SimpleText is "using" almost all of the CPU time. Obviously, this makes the CPU-usage information less than useful.
NULL is designed to simply 'absorb' cycles that would otherwise be "unused". The Process Manager then "gives" all the unused cycles to NULL. Presto- your CPU-monitoring program now shows a new entry called "NULL" which accounts for all the "unused" CPU cycles, rather than having the Process Manager stuff them into Simple Text, the Finder, or a server program.
Try it in conjunction with Peek-A-Boo. NULL doesn't patch any traps, it uses a very small amount of RAM, it doesn't particularly slow down the system, and it's a fat binary for optimum performance. <grin>
Why is it called NULL?
It's called NULL in fond memory of the VAX/VMS process by the same name, which performs basically the same function, except on a VAX or Alpha instead of a Mac. In some sense, NULL is a conceptual port from VMS.
Where can I find a CPU monitoring program to use NULL with?
The current (very cool) version of Peek-a-Boo can be found at:
http://www.kagi.com/bobc/pab_about.html
You may also find an old (less cool) version Peek-A-Boo here:
