What it means

pipeline

Software that runs without external intervention, taking raw data on one end and producing reduced data in the other.

data-driven

Software that does nothing until data arrives, and then looks to the data and not the user for data reduction information.

recipe

A file containing a list of individual data reduction steps.

primitive

A file containing code performing a meaningful data reduction step

engine

An external package (e.g. a Starlink task) that performs a certain algorithmic step (e.g. addition).

Figure: What happens in ORAC-DR