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Reference implementation (computing)

 

 
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Reference implementation (computing)
 
 
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In computing
Computing

Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and developing computer technology, computer hardware and computer software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology....
, a reference implementation (or, less frequently, sample implementation or model implementation) is a software example of a specification. These are intended to help others implement their own version of the specification or find problems during the creation of a specification. The following example clarifies this specification:

A reference implementation may or may not be production quality.






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In computing
Computing

Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and developing computer technology, computer hardware and computer software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology....
, a reference implementation (or, less frequently, sample implementation or model implementation) is a software example of a specification. These are intended to help others implement their own version of the specification or find problems during the creation of a specification. The following example clarifies this specification:

A reference implementation may or may not be production quality. For example, the Fraunhofer
Fraunhofer Society

The Fraunhofer Society is a Germany research organization with 58 institutes spread throughout Germany, each focusing on different fields of applied science ....
 reference implementation of the MP3
MP3

MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a digital audio Encoder format using a form of lossy data compression. It is a common audio format for consumer audio storage, as well as a de facto standard encoding for the transfer and playback of music on digital audio players....
 standard usually does not compare favorably to other common implementations. These include implementations such as LAME
LAME

LAME is a free software software application used to encoder audio into the MP3 file format. The name LAME is a recursive acronym for LAME Ain't an MP3 Encoder, reflecting LAME's early history when it was not actually an encoder, but merely a set of patches against the freely available ISO demonstration source code....
 in listening tests that determine sound quality.

Reference implementations may also be prohibited by licensing for commercial use. For example, The Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems

Sun Microsystems, Inc. is a multinational corporation vendor of computers, computer components, computer software, and information technology services, founded on February 24, 1982....
 Java EE RI application server
Application server

An application server, in an Multitier architecture, is a server that hosts an Application programming interface to expose business logic and business processes for use by third-party Business software....
 is referenced by a great deal of Java EE training literature. However, it cannot be licensed for production use.