Vanilla software


Vanilla software


In computer science, vanilla describes software, hardware or algorithms that have not been customized or modified from their original form. The term "Vanilla software" has become a widespread de facto industry standard, widely used by businesses and individuals. The term comes from the traditional standard flavor of ice cream, vanilla. According to Eric S. Raymond's The New Hacker's Dictionary, "vanilla" means more "ordinary", not "default".

Examples of how to use "vanilla" in a sentence:

  • As one of the earliest examples, IBM's mainframe text publishing system BookMaster, provides a default way to specify which parts of a book to publish, called "vanilla", and a fancier way, called "mocha".
  • The term "vanilla" is sometimes also used for hardware components. For instance, in the 1990s non-upgraded Amiga home computers were called "(plain) vanilla"; similarly, it was later also applied to PC parts.
  • For Unix-based kernels, a "vanilla kernel" is a kernel that has been unmodified by any third-party source. For instance, the vanilla Linux kernel is often given a Linux distribution–specific "flavour" by being heavily modified.
  • In his book End of Ignorance, Charles Winborne refers to a static page that is "only a text file, but one that links to accompanying files" as a plain-vanilla web page.
  • Video game players usually refer to games without installed mods as "vanilla".
  • JavaScript, when used without any libraries or third party plugins is referred to as "vanilla JavaScript".

See also

  • Commercial off-the-shelf
  • Mod (video games)
  • Out of the box (feature)
  • Plain vanilla
  • Turnkey

References


Text submitted to CC-BY-SA license. Source: Vanilla software by Wikipedia (Historical)



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