Continuum Analytics: Documentation

# Glossary

Anaconda
  A downloadable, free, open source, high-performance, optimized Python and R distribution with 100+ packages plus easy access to an additional 620+ popular open source packages for data science including advanced and scientific analytics. It also includes conda, an open source package, dependency and environment manager. Thousands more open source packages can be installed with the `conda` command. Available for Windows, macOS and Linux, all versions are supported by the community.
Anaconda Cloud
  A web-based repository hosting service in the cloud. Packages created locally can be published to the cloud to be shared with others. Free accounts on Cloud can publish packages to be shared publicly. Paid subscriptions to Cloud can designate packages as private to be shared with authorized users. Cloud is Continuum Analytics’s Anaconda Repository product made available to the public. Repository is also available for purchase by companies that wish to power their own on-premise version of Cloud. See product comparison.
Anaconda cluster management
  The cluster manager that makes it easy to install packages, dependencies and environments on a Hadoop or a HPC cluster. The cluster manager is bundled with paid Anaconda subscriptions and integrates with the on-premises Anaconda Repository or the conda repository. The cluster manager is purchased for a specific set of nodes in the cluster. The cluster manager can be tried out by downloading the 4-node cluster manager from Anaconda Cloud.
Anaconda Fusion
  Anaconda Fusion integrates the Anaconda platform into Microsoft Excel. With Fusion, you can connect Excel to open data science, leverage data scientists’ notebooks easily through Excel and access the power of Python and big data, embedded inside Excel.
Anaconda Navigator
  A desktop graphical user interface (GUI) included in all versions of Anaconda that allows you to easily manage conda packages, environments, channels and notebooks without the need for the command line interface.
Anaconda Enterprise
  Anaconda with enterprise technical support for a specific number of users, indemnification for a select number of open source packages, collaborative notebooks, high-performance scalability, Hadoop, interactive visualization, governance and security. See the subscriptions page for more details.
Anaconda Repository
  An enterprise server on your network where open source and proprietary packages may be stored, retrieved and installed on a local computer. Anaconda Repository is different from Anaconda Cloud or the default conda repository. The repository is used to govern access to data science assets including packages and notebooks.
channels
  The locations of the repositories where conda looks for packages. Channels may point to a Cloud repository or a private location on a remote or local repository that you or your organization created. The `conda channel` command has a default set of channels to search beginning with https://repo.continuum.io/pkgs/ . You may override the default channels, for example to maintain a private or internal channel. In conda commands and in the `.condarc` file, these default channels are referred to by the channel name `defaults`.
Command Line Interface (CLI)
  A program in which commands are entered as text, one line at a time, for a computer to execute. Sometimes referred to as a terminal. Contrast with Graphical User Interface (GUI).
Conda
  A package and environment manager program bundled with Anaconda that installs and updates conda packages and their dependencies. Also lets you easily switch between conda environments on your local computer.
Conda build
  A program that assembles the necessary components to create a conda package using conda commands. A conda build is done locally with your own (optional) clusters.
Conda environment
  A folder or directory that contains a specific collection of conda packages and their dependencies, so that they can be maintained and run separately without interference from each other. For example, you may use one conda environment for only Python 2 and Python 2 packages and maintain another conda environment with only Python 3 and Python 3 packages.
Conda package
  A compressed file that contains everything that a software program needs in order to be installed and run, including system-level libraries, Python modules, executable programs and other components. With a conda package, you do not have to manually find and install each dependency separately. Managed with conda.
Conda repository
  A cloud-based repository that contains 720+ open source certified packages that are easily installed locally via the `conda install` command. Can be accessed by anyone using conda commands or viewed directly at https://repo.continuum.io/pkgs/ .
Graphical User Interface (GUI)
  A program with graphic images, icons and menus in which commands are entered by clicking with a mouse and/or entering text in form boxes. It is an easy-to-use overlay to the same program that is run using a Command Line Interface (CLI). Examples are Anaconda Navigator and Anaconda Fusion.
Miniconda
  A minimal installer for conda. Like Anaconda, Miniconda is a free software package that includes the Anaconda distribution and the conda package and environment manager, but Miniconda does not include any packages other than those dependencies needed to install it. After installing Miniconda, you can install additional conda packages directly from the command line with `conda install`.
package manager
  A collection of software tools that automates the process of installing, upgdating, configuring and removing computer programs for a computer’s operating system. Also known as a package management system. Conda is an example of a package manager.
packages
  Software files and information about the software, such as its name, the specific version and a description, that are bundled into a file that can be installed and managed by a package manager.
R packages
  Conda packages that install and run the R computer language. Examples include R Essentials, a bundle of 80 popular, open source software programs written in the R computer language. See http://conda.pydata.org/docs/r-with-conda.html .
repository
  Any storage location from which software or software assets may be retrieved and installed on a local computer. See also Anaconda Repository and conda repository.