In
computer science, vanilla is the term used to refer when
computer software and sometimes also other
computing-related systems like
computer hardware
Computer hardware includes the physical parts of a computer, such as the computer case, case, central processing unit (CPU), Random-access memory, random access memory (RAM), Computer monitor, monitor, Computer mouse, mouse, Computer keyboard, ...
or
algorithms are not
customized from their original form, i.e., they are used without any customizations or updates applied to them. 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
Eric Steven Raymond (born December 4, 1957), often referred to as ESR, is an American software developer, open-source software advocate, and author of the 1997 essay and 1999 book ''The Cathedral and the Bazaar''. He wrote a guidebook for the ...
's
The New Hacker's Dictionary
The Jargon File is a glossary and usage dictionary of slang used by computer programmers. The original Jargon File was a collection of terms from technical cultures such as the MIT AI Lab, the Stanford AI Lab (SAIL) and others of the old ARPANET A ...
, "vanilla" means more "default" than "ordinary".
Examples of how to use "vanilla" in a sentence:
* As one of the earliest examples,
IBM's
mainframe
A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise ...
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
Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...
home computers were called "(plain) vanilla"; similarly, it was later also applied to
PC parts.
* For
Unix-based
kernels, a "vanilla kernel" refers to a kernel that has been unmodified by any third-party source. For instance, the vanilla
Linux kernel
The Linux kernel is a free and open-source, monolithic, modular, multitasking, Unix-like operating system kernel. It was originally authored in 1991 by Linus Torvalds for his i386-based PC, and it was soon adopted as the kernel for the GNU ope ...
is often given a
Linux distribution
A Linux distribution (often abbreviated as distro) is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel and, often, a package management system. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading one ...
–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.
* Fans of the video game ''
Minecraft'', usually refer to the game without 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
Commercial off-the-shelf or commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) products are packaged or canned (ready-made) hardware or software, which are adapted aftermarket to the needs of the purchasing organization, rather than the commissioning of ...
*
Mod (video games)
*
Out of the box (feature) An out-of-the-box feature or functionality (also called OOTB or off the shelf), particularly in software, is a native feature or built-in functionality of a product that comes directly from the vendor and works immediately when the product is placed ...
*
Plain vanilla
*
Turnkey
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanilla Software
Computing terminology
de:Vanilla software