Continuum Analytics: Documentation

# Glossary

## Anaconda

A downloadable, free, open source, high-performance, optimized Python and R distribution with 100+ packages and the option to easily install an additional 620+ popular open source packages for data science, including advanced and scientific analytics. Anaconda includes Anaconda Navigator and conda management utilities. Available for Windows, macOS and Linux. All versions are supported by the development community.

## Anaconda Cloud

A web-based repository hosting service in the cloud. Packages created locally can be published to your channel on Anaconda Cloud to be shared with the public. Paid subscriptions to Anaconda Cloud can designate packages as private, to be shared only with authorized users. Anaconda Cloud is Continuum Analytics® Anaconda repository product made available to the public. Anaconda repository is also available for purchase by companies that wish to maintain their own on-site version of Anaconda Cloud. See Anaconda business subscriptions.

## Anaconda Enterprise

Anaconda version that includes enterprise technical support, indemnification for a select number of open source packages, collaborative notebooks, high performance scalability, Hadoop, interactive visualization, governance and security. See Anaconda business subscriptions.

## 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 to use the command line interface (CLI).

## Anaconda Repository

A private enterprise server on your network where open source and proprietary packages may be stored and retrieved for installation on a local computer. Anaconda Repository is different from Anaconda Cloud or the default conda repository. The Anaconda 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, often on Anaconda Cloud (Anaconda.org). Channels may also go to a private location on a remote or local repository that you or your organization manage.

## command line interface (CLI)

A program in which commands are entered as text, one line at a time, for a computer to execute. This is referred to as a command prompt in Windows, and as a terminal in macOS and Linux. Conda is executed in a CLI. Contrast with Graphical User Interface (GUI).

## conda

A package and environment manager program that is packaged with Anaconda and run in a CLI. Using conda, you can install and update conda packages and their dependencies, and switch between conda environments on your local computer. Contrast to Anaconda Navigator.

## conda environment

A folder or directory that contains a specific collection of conda packages and their dependencies, so they can be maintained and run independently without interfering with each other. Environments in Anaconda Navigator are conda environments.

EXAMPLE: It can be useful to create one environment for packages that run on Python 2, and another for packages that run on Python 3.

Changes to one environment do not affect other environments.

EXAMPLE: If you upgrade a program in one environment, this will not upgrade the same program in another environment.

## conda package

An archive file that contains everything that a software program needs in order to be installed and run, so you do not have to manually find and install each dependency separately. This can include system-level libraries, Python modules, executable programs and other components. Managed with conda or Anaconda Navigator. Packages in Anaconda Navigator are conda packages.

## 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 viewed directly at https://repo.continuum.io/pkgs/ and used within Anaconda Navigator when downloading and installing packages from their Environments tab, or by using conda commands in a Command Line Interface.

## 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 edit boxes. Anaconda Navigator is a graphical user interface that overlays the conda utility.

## Miniconda

A minimal installer for conda that is run from a command line interface (CLI). Like Anaconda, Miniconda is a free software package that includes the conda package and environment manager, but Miniconda does not include Anaconda, Anaconda Navigator, or any packages other than those dependencies needed to install it. After Miniconda is installed, additional conda packages may be installed directly from the command line interface with the command `conda install`. See also Anaconda and conda.

## package manager

A collection of software tools that automates the process of installing, upgdating, configuring, and removing computer programs on a computer. Also known as a package management system. Anaconda Navigator includes the conda package manager with a GUI overlay for ease of use.

## packages

Software program files and information about the software, such as its name, the specific version and a description, 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. To learn more, 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.