What's the difference between a suite, a library, and a distribution?

Anonymous Monk has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

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Re: What's the difference between a suite, a library, and a distribution? by sauoq (Abbot) on Oct 24, 2005 at 08:04 UTC
I wouldn't call these "Perl terms" to begin with. Perl programmers wouldn't generally use these words any differently than other developers. A "suite" usually refers to a set of related programs. A "library" is code which isn't meant to stand alone but which can be included in programs (or other libraries). Libaries usually provide a set of related functions for dealing with a particular kind of data. A "distribution" refers to all the files included with the release of one version of a given software package. -sauoq "My two cents aren't worth a dime.";	[reply]
Re: What's the difference between a suite, a library, and a distribution? by jbrugger (Parson) on Oct 24, 2005 at 07:53 UTC
This distribution is a suite of libraries :) "We all agree on the necessity of compromise. We just can't agree on when it's necessary to compromise." - Larry Wall.	[reply]
Re: What's the difference between a suite, a library, and a distribution? by JohnMG (Beadle) on Oct 24, 2005 at 14:20 UTC
In Perl, "library" generally refers to the collection of modules installed on your system. The "standard library" refers to all the core modules, and is a subset of the library installed on your system.	[reply]
Re: What's the difference between a suite, a library, and a distribution? by Moron (Curate) on Oct 24, 2005 at 14:31 UTC
It depends on from what environment we have to translate these terms into perl, but for the general software case I would expect it to go like this: `Term General Meaning Perl meaning ------- ------------------------ ------------------ suite set of software packages - no perl-specific meaning library set of routines a local or public module (.pm file) distribution all files belonging to distribution of a version a version of a product of the core of perl (CPAN not specifically included)` [download] -M Free your mind	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: What's the difference between a suite, a library, and a distribution? by JohnMG (Beadle) on Oct 24, 2005 at 15:34 UTC
Yeah, that word "library" seems to be overloaded. It can mean one module (like how a .so file is often called a "shared library") or a group of modules (ex. the Perl standard library).	[reply]
Re^3: What's the difference between a suite, a library, and a distribution? by revdiablo (Prior) on Oct 24, 2005 at 16:48 UTC
word "library" seems to be overloaded. It can mean one module ... or a group of modules I wouldn't really say it's overloaded. I think most people think of a library as a collection of functions, or perhaps more generally, a collection of functionality. This doesn't imply much about the structure or organization, which means it could be 1 module, or 35 modules.	[reply]