<s>
A	O
binary	B-General_Concept
large	I-General_Concept
object	I-General_Concept
(	O
BLOB	B-General_Concept
or	O
blob	B-General_Concept
)	O
is	O
a	O
collection	O
of	O
binary	O
data	O
stored	O
as	O
a	O
single	O
entity	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Blobs	B-General_Concept
are	O
typically	O
images	O
,	O
audio	O
or	O
other	O
multimedia	O
objects	O
,	O
though	O
sometimes	O
binary	B-Application
executable	I-Application
code	O
is	O
stored	O
as	O
a	O
blob	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
can	O
exist	O
as	O
persistent	O
values	O
inside	O
some	O
databases	O
or	O
version	B-Architecture
control	I-Architecture
system	I-Architecture
,	O
or	O
exist	O
at	B-Library
runtime	I-Library
as	O
program	O
variables	O
in	O
some	O
programming	O
languages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Blobs	B-General_Concept
are	O
not	O
to	O
be	O
confused	O
with	O
binary	O
files	O
stored	O
in	O
a	O
file	B-Application
system	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Blobs	B-General_Concept
were	O
originally	O
just	O
big	O
amorphous	O
chunks	O
of	O
data	O
invented	O
by	O
Jim	O
Starkey	O
at	O
DEC	O
,	O
who	O
describes	O
them	O
as	O
"	O
the	O
thing	O
that	O
ate	O
Cincinnati	O
,	O
Cleveland	O
,	O
or	O
whatever	O
"	O
from	O
"	O
the	O
1958	O
Steve	O
McQueen	O
movie	O
"	O
,	O
referring	O
to	O
The	B-Application
Blob	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Then	O
Informix	B-Application
invented	O
an	O
alternative	O
backronym	O
,	O
Binary	B-General_Concept
Large	I-General_Concept
Object	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
definition	O
gained	O
popularity	O
with	O
IBM	B-Application
Db2	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
term	O
is	O
used	O
in	O
NoSQL	B-General_Concept
databases	O
,	O
especially	O
in	O
key-value	B-Data_Structure
store	I-Data_Structure
databases	O
such	O
as	O
Redis	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
term	O
is	O
also	O
used	O
by	O
languages	O
that	O
allow	O
runtime	B-Library
manipulation	O
of	O
Blobs	B-General_Concept
,	O
like	O
JavaScript	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
name	O
"	O
blob	B-General_Concept
"	O
is	O
further	O
borrowed	O
by	O
the	O
deep	O
learning	O
software	O
Caffe	B-Algorithm
to	O
represent	O
multi-dimensional	O
arrays	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
world	O
of	O
free	B-License
and	I-License
open-source	I-License
software	I-License
,	O
the	O
term	O
is	O
also	O
borrowed	O
to	O
refer	O
to	O
proprietary	O
device	O
drivers	O
,	O
which	O
are	O
distributed	O
without	O
their	O
source	O
code	O
,	O
exclusively	O
through	O
binary	O
code	O
;	O
in	O
such	O
use	O
,	O
the	O
term	O
binary	O
blob	B-General_Concept
is	O
common	O
,	O
even	O
though	O
the	O
first	O
letter	O
in	O
the	B-Application
blob	I-Application
abbreviation	O
already	O
stands	O
for	O
binary	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Blobs	B-General_Concept
are	O
also	O
commonly	O
known	O
as	O
"	O
David	O
Eklund	O
"	O
,	O
as	O
a	O
homage	O
to	O
the	O
inventor	O
of	O
the	B-Application
blob	I-Application
.	O
</s>
