source: trunk/docs/kernel/introduction.txt @ 264

.. _kernel-introduction:

Introduction
============

ZOO Kernel is the heart of the ZOO. It is a powerful server-side C Kernel which makes 
it possible to manage and chain Web services, by loading dynamic libraries and handling 
them as on-demand Web services. The ZOO Kernel is written in the C language, but supports 
several common programming languages in order to connect to numerous libraries and models.

Using ZOO Kernel as a Web Processing Platform
---------------------------------------------

ZOO Kernel works with Apache and can communicate with cartographic engines and Web mapping 
clients. It simply adds the WPS support to your spatial data infrastructure and your 
Web mapping application!

.. note::
   If you'd like some background on the WPS standard, head to: http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/wps

Supported Languages
-------------------

ZOO Kernel supports the following programming languages, and let's you use them to create 
new ZOO Services from new or existing code:

============ =================== ========================= ============
**Language** **ServiceProvider** **DataStructure**         **Return**
------------ ------------------- ------------------------- ------------
C / C++      Shared Library      maps* M                   integer
Fortran      Shared Library      CHARACTER*(1024) M(10,30) integer
Java         Class File          `HashMap`_                integer
Python       Module File         `dictionary`_             integer
PHP          Script File         `Array`_                  integer
Perl         Script File                                   integer
JavaScript   Script file         `Object`_ or Array        Array/Object 
============ =================== ========================= ============

.. _`HashMap`: http://download.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/util/HashMap.html
.. _`dictionary`: http://docs.python.org/tutorial/datastructures.html#dictionaries
.. _`Array`: http://php.net/manual/language.types.array.php
.. _`Object`: http://www.json.org/

ZOO Kernel is a WPS Espresso Machine
------------------------------------

.. image:: ../_static/images/zoo_kernel_scheme.png