computer science

Tryton

Tryton is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Tryton rather than just read about it. In short: Tryton is a three-tier high-level general purpose computer application platform on top of which is built an enterprise resource planning (ERP) business solution through a set of Tryton modules. The three-tier architecture consists of the Tryton client, the Tryton server and the database management system (mainly PostgreSQL).

Key takeaways

Tryton belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Tryton to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Tryton from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Tryton is a three-tier high-level general purpose computer application platform on top of which is built an enterprise resource planning (ERP) business solution through a set of Tryton modules. The three-tier architecture consists of the Tryton client, the Tryton server and the database management system (mainly PostgreSQL).

License The platform, along with the official modules, are free software, licensed under the GPL-3.0-or-later license.

Modules and functional coverage The official modules provide a coverage of the following functional fields:

Financial accounting Sales Inventory & Stock Analytic accounting CRM Purchasing Supply chain Manufacturing Resource Planning Shipping Project management Subscription management Third party integration Full documentation of the modules and functionalities is available at the official documentation site.

Technical features The client and the server applications are written in Python, the client uses GTK+ as graphical toolkit. Both are available on Linux, OS X, and Windows. A web client also exists written in JavaScript using jQuery and Bootstrap and is named sao. The kernel provides the technical foundations needed by most business applications. However it is not linked to any particular functional field hence constituting a general purpose framework:

Data persistence: ensured by accessor objects called Models, they allow easy creation, migration and access to records. User Management: the kernel comes with the base features of user management: user groups, access rules by models and records, etc. Workflow Engine: allows users to activate a workflow on any business model. Report Engine: the report engine is based on relatorio that uses ODT files as templates and generate ODT or PDF reports. Internationalisation: Tryton is available in English, French, German, Spanish, Catalan, and Italian. New translations can be added directly from the client interface. Historical data: data historization may be enabled on any business model allowing for example to get the list of all the past value of the cost price of any product. It also allows users to dynamically access historized record at any time in the past: for instance the customer information on each open invoice will be the ones of the day the invoice was opened. Support for XML-RPC and JSON-RPC protocols. Database independence is allowed thanks to the python-sql library and is used for testing with the SQLite backend. Built-in automatic migration mechanism: it allows updating the underlying database scheme without any human manipulation. Migration is ensured from series to series (releases inside the same series do not require migration). This automation is possible because the migration process is taken into account and tested continually within the development. Advanced modularity: the modularity allows a layered approach of the business concepts along with flexibility, which speeds up custom developments. Being a framework, Tryton can be used as a platform for the development of various other solutions than just business ERPs. A very prominent example is GNU Health, a free Health and Hospital Information System based on Tryton.

Origin and history Tryton's origin is a fork of the version 4.2 of TinyERP (which was later called OpenERP and now renamed Odoo). The first version was published in November 2008.

Project management and governance

In contrast to their parent project and other open-source business software, the Tryton founders avoided creating a partner network, which tends to generate opposition and duality between the partners and the community of volunteers. They followed the PostgreSQL example where the project is driven by a federation of companies. As of August 2015, Tryton is supported by 17 of such companies, which are distributed globally as follows: France 3, Spain 3, Colombia 2, Germany, 2, Argentina 1, Australia 1, Belgium 1, Brazil 1, India 1, Mexico 1, Switzerland 1. As of December 2012, the project is backed by Tryton, a Belgian private foundation pursuing a disinterested purpose. The foundation's missions are:

Develop and support conferences, meetings and community activities Hold and administer the tryton.org infrastructure Organize the community of supporters Manage and promote the Tryton trademark The release process is organised around series. A series is a set of releases with the same two first numbers (e.g. 1.0 or 1.2) that shares the same API and the same database scheme. A new series appears every six months and new versions in older release are introduced when bugfixes are available. The series are maintained for 1 year and every five series is a Long-term support of 5 years.

Name The name Tryton refers to Triton, a mythological Greek god (son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and Amphitrite, goddess of the sea) and Python, the implementation language.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tryton

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tryton claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Tryton before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Tryton ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Tryton

In research: Tryton appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Tryton in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Tryton is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2008 software, Charities based in Belgium, Content management systems, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tryton outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Tryton in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Tryton means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Tryton out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tryton in simple terms?

Why does Tryton matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Tryton?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Tryton.