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Glite Dictionary
🏍️ A passenger cart 🍸 A brandy drink 💻 A helper program
sidecar

sidecar

1 6.5
A small helper program that runs next to a main program to provide services like logging
  • noun
  • /ˈsaɪdˌkɑr/
  • Texting
translation icon : sidecar
  • Put it in a sidecar.

Examples

  • But seriously, nice sidecar, dude.

    Camille (2008)

  • - Put it in a sidecar.

    The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)

  • So it's not sidecar where you would be extending your Mac's display onto the iPad.

  • The word "TAXI" is painted on the sidecar's exterior.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • -A sidecar!

    Camille (2008)

  • Witness the effect that the transportation companies Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar have had on local taxi services.

    Academic text (2016)

  • Sending files to Audition or SpeedGrade creates all kinds of little sidecar files scattered throughout your folder hierarchy.

    Blog text (1)

  • The application generated several sidecar components to handle logging and monitoring tasks.

  • In a microservices architecture, sidecar containers are often used to manage auxiliary functions like data collection.

  • The developer designed a sidecar that would run alongside the main software to improve performance.

How Integrated

built-in
59 3.9
library
  • Specialized
77 4.9
sidecar
  • Texting
1 6.5
plugin
  • Specialized
33 3.5
remote terminal
  • Specialized
1 5.8

Surface Forms

sidecar singular
sidecars plural

Morphology

sidecar = side + car (semi-transparent) = side + car

The computing sense is a metaphorical extension of a physical sidecar (something that runs alongside a main vehicle), so the relation to the components is clear but applied metaphorically to software.

Etymology

Sidecar in computing borrows the picture of a small 'car' at the side of a motorcycle: a helper that travels next to the main vehicle. That's why a software sidecar is a small component that runs beside the main application to give extra services like logging or security.