Continuum Analytics: Documentation

# Anaconda Navigator Glossary

Anaconda

A downloadable free, open source, high performance, optimized Python and R distribution with 100+ packages plus access to easily installing an additional 620+ popular open source packages for data science including advanced and scientific analytics. It includes Anaconda Navigator and conda. 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 your channel on Anaconda Cloud to be shared with the public. Paid subscriptions to Anaconda Cloud can designate packages as private to be shared 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 power their own on-premise version of Anaconda Cloud. See product comparison.

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 or CLI.

Anaconda Pro, Enterprise and Workgroup

Anaconda that includes enterprise technical support for a specific number of users, and indemnification for a select number of open source packages. Anaconda Enterprise and Workgroup include collaborative notebooks, high performance scalability, Hadoop, interactive visualization, governance and security. See product comparison.

Anaconda Repository

A private enterprise server on your network from which 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 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. Sometimes referred to as a command prompt (Windows) or a terminal (macOS or Linux). Conda is executed on a CLI. 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 by using a CLI. Also lets you 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 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. Environments in Anaconda Navigator are conda environments.

Conda package

A compressed file that contains everything that a software program needs in order to be installed and run (system-level libraries, Python modules, executable programs, and/or other components) so you do not have to manually find and install each dependency separately. 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/, used by a user of 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 form boxes. It is a pretty and easy to use overlay to the same program that is run using a command line interface or CLI. Anaconda Navigator is a graphical user interface that overlays conda.

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 for a computer’s operating system. Also known as a package management system. Anaconda Navigator includes the conda package manager with a nice graphical user interface 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. SEE ALSO http://conda.pydata.org/docs/r-with-conda.html

Repository

Any storage location from which software or software assets that may be retrieved and installed on a local computer. SEE ALSO Anaconda Repository and conda repository.