source: trunk/docs/index.txt @ 120

Welcome to the ZOO Project
==========================

ZOO is a WPS (Web Processing Service) open source project released under a :ref:`MIT/X-11 style license <license>`. 
It provides an OGC WPS compliant developer-friendly framework to create and chain WPS Web services. 
ZOO is made of three parts:

- ZOO Kernel : A powerful server-side C Kernel which makes it possible to manage and chain 
  Web services coded in different programming languages.
- ZOO Services : A growing suite of example Web services based on various Open Source libraries. 
  (get inspired !)
- ZOO API : A server-side JavaScript API able to call and chain the ZOO Services, which makes the 
  development and chaining processes easier. 

Powerful ZOO Kernel, that makes coffee
--------------------------------------

ZOO is based on a 'WPS Service Kernel' which constitutes the ZOO's core system (aka ZOO Kernel). 
The latter is able to load dynamic libraries and to handle them as on-demand Web services. 
The ZOO Kernel is written in C language, but supports several common programming languages in 
order to connect to numerous libraries and above all to simplify the Web service end-developer's job.

Use the ZOO Services and make your own
--------------------------------------

A ZOO service is a link composed of a metadata file (.zcfg) and the code for the corresponding 
implementation. The metadata file describes all the available functions which can be called using 
a WPS Exec Request, as well as the desired input/output. Services contain the algorithms and functions, 
and can now be implemented in C/C++, Fortran, Java, Python, PHP, Perl and JavaScript.

Easy implementation with the ZOO API
------------------------------------

The ZOO API is a simple and concise JavaScript library designed to call and chain the ZOO Services 
easily, and adds the capability to define logic in the chaining of your ZOO Services.