Difference between revisions of "Template:Article of the week"

From LIMSWiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
(Updated article of the week text.)
(Updated article of the week text.)
Line 1: Line 1:
<div style="float: left; margin: 0.5em 0.9em 0.4em 0em;">[[File:Linux kernel API.svg|240px]]</div>
<div style="float: left; margin: 0.5em 0.9em 0.4em 0em;">[[File:SSTm.png|240px]]</div>
An '''[[application programming interface]]''' ('''API''') is a particular set of rules and specifications that software programs can follow to communicate with each other. It serves as an interface between different software programs and facilitates their interaction, similar to the way the user interface facilitates interaction between humans and computers. An API can be created for applications, libraries, operating systems, etc. as a way of defining their "vocabularies" and resource request conventions (e.g. function-calling conventions). It may include specifications for routines, data structures, object classes, and protocols used to communicate between the consumer program and the implementer program of the API.
'''[[Environmental informatics]]''' ('''EI''') is a developing field of science that applies [[information]] processing, management, and sharing strategies to the interdisciplinary field of environmental science. Applications include the integration of information and knowledge, the application of computational intelligence to environmental data, and the identification of the environmental impacts of information technology. EI helps scientists define information processing requirements, analyze real-world problems, and solve those problems using informatics methodologies and tools.


An API can be generalized for many functions, appearing bundled in the libraries of a programming language, e.g. the Standard Template Library in C++ or the Java API. It can also be function-specific, meant to address a specific problem, e.g. the Google Maps API or the Java API for XML Web Services. Some APIs are language-dependent, meaning they can only use the syntax and elements of a particular language, which makes the API more convenient to use. Of course, an API may also be language-independent, written so that it can be called from several programming languages. This is a desirable feature for a service-oriented API that is not bound to a specific process or system and may be provided as remote procedure calls or web services. ('''[[Application programming interface|Full article...]]''')<br />
As EI has continued to evolve, several other definitions have been offered over the years. Some consider it "an emerging field centering around the development of standards and protocols, both technical and institutional, for sharing and integrating environmental data and information." Others consider it the application of "[r]esearch and system development focusing on the environmental sciences relating to the creation, collection, storage, processing, modelling, interpretation, display and dissemination of data and information."
 
Environmental informatics emerged roughly around the late 1980s in Central Europe. For example, in 1986 Germany's ''Gesellschaft für Informatik'' (Society for Computer Science) created the technical committee ''Informatik im Umweltschutz'' (Computer Science in Environmental Protection) dedicated to "the whole spectrum of subjects related to informatics in environmental protection." ('''[[Environmental informatics|Full article...]]''')<br />


<br />
<br />
''Recently featured'': [[Immunoinformatics]], [[Life sciences industry]], [[Chemical industry]]
''Recently featured'': [[Application programming interface]], [[Immunoinformatics]], [[Life sciences industry]]

Revision as of 16:15, 1 June 2015

SSTm.png

Environmental informatics (EI) is a developing field of science that applies information processing, management, and sharing strategies to the interdisciplinary field of environmental science. Applications include the integration of information and knowledge, the application of computational intelligence to environmental data, and the identification of the environmental impacts of information technology. EI helps scientists define information processing requirements, analyze real-world problems, and solve those problems using informatics methodologies and tools.

As EI has continued to evolve, several other definitions have been offered over the years. Some consider it "an emerging field centering around the development of standards and protocols, both technical and institutional, for sharing and integrating environmental data and information." Others consider it the application of "[r]esearch and system development focusing on the environmental sciences relating to the creation, collection, storage, processing, modelling, interpretation, display and dissemination of data and information."

Environmental informatics emerged roughly around the late 1980s in Central Europe. For example, in 1986 Germany's Gesellschaft für Informatik (Society for Computer Science) created the technical committee Informatik im Umweltschutz (Computer Science in Environmental Protection) dedicated to "the whole spectrum of subjects related to informatics in environmental protection." (Full article...)


Recently featured: Application programming interface, Immunoinformatics, Life sciences industry

Retrieved from "https://www.limswiki.org/index.php?title=Template:Article_of_the_week&oldid=21649"