Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A renv.lock file pinning every R package version used by an analysis.
- Is an instance
A Dockerfile producing a reproducible Ubuntu 22.04 image with Python 3.11 and pinned dependencies.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
A 'requirements.txt' with unpinned versions (>= or ranges).
- Not an instance
A README listing language versions without pinning libraries.
Editorial commentary
Capturing the computational environment is a prerequisite for computational reproducibility because the same code may produce different results under different library versions, BLAS implementations, or floating-point modes. Approaches include lock files (renv, Poetry, conda-lock), container images, and full virtual machines.
References
- Boettiger, 'An introduction to Docker for reproducible research' (ACM SIGOPS Operating Systems Review, 2015).
Also known as
execution environment · research environment
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
xml
<role vocab="credit"
vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
vocab-term="Computational environment"
vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/computational-environment" />json
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"name": "Computational environment",
"identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/computational-environment",
"description": "The full software and hardware context in which an analysis runs, including operating system, language runtime, library versions, configuration, environment variables, and hardware-specific dependencies (e.g., GPU drivers).",
"inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/reproducibility-and-computational-research/",
"url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/computational-environment",
"sameAs": [
"execution environment",
"research environment"
],
"license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}
