What is PIPE?

The term "PIPE" is ambiguous without further context. It commonly refers to a mechanism for inter-process communication (IPC), particularly in Unix-like operating systems. A pipe allows one program to pass data to another, forming a pipeline of operations. This is a fundamental tool for scripting and command-line workflows, where the output of one command is used as the input to another. The other common understanding of PIPE is related to pipeline of a processor or integrated circuit in general, which breaks execution into discrete steps which are arranged as a pipe. This is done for optimization of execution and throughput.