View source for CTKSummary

This page provides a summary of CTK's role in the NA-MIC Toolkit.  To learn more about CTK visit the [http://www.commontk.org/  CTK Website ].

== Description ==

The Common ToolKit ([http://www.commontk.org/ CTK]) is an open source, freely available software system for providing high-level components for biomedical and scientific computing applications. CTK, which is a very recent effort, is a repository of high-level componentware that combines a broad range of technology including Qt, VTK, [https://www.kitware.com/InfovisWiki/index.php/Main_Page Titan] (VTK's informatics subsystem), ITK, CMake, Slicer/Slicer Modules and DICOM.

== Role in NAMIC ==

At this point CTK is serving as a software repository for application componentware, and as a vehicle for international collaboration.

== Typical Usage ==

CTK is under active development and use cases are evolving. However, the general idea is that biomedical and scientific computing professionals will be able to quickly combine components from CTK to create targeted applications.

== Languages ==

CTK is written in C++ but will have bindings to Python (at a minimum). These bindings are produced automatically during the software build process. Python is a powerful scientific computing languages that includes packages for numerical computing, web access, data manipulation and more.

== Platforms ==

CTK runs on most Unix, Linux and Windows platforms. Mac OSX is also supported (Jaguar or later.)

== Software Dependencies ==

All platforms require [http://www.cmake.org CMake] to build. CMake is a cross-platform software build tool. It uses hardware, compiler and operating system neutral configuration files to generate Makefiles, workspaces or projects particular to a particular development environment, so developers can use standard development tools on their target platform.

== Documentation, Tutorials and Examples ==

As CTK is under rapid development, [http://www.commontk.org/index.php/Documentation/Whitepaper documentation] resources are spartan and subject to change. To learn more, we recommend contacting the [http://www.commontk.org/index.php/Main_Page CTK community].

== File Formats Supported ==

All formats supported by Slicer, VTK, ITK, Qt and DICOM. This includes SQL access (through Qt).

== Revision Control ==

Version control is provided via [http://github.com/pieper/CTK git]. 

== Size of Community ==

The current size of the community is small, and consists mainly of developers at this point. See the [http://www.commontk.org/index.php/GettingStarted startup guide] if you'd like to join the community.

== License ==

CTK uses an open-source, Berkely-style license. It allows unrestricted use, including use in commercial products. 

== Future Work ==

CTK is a rapidly expanding software toolkit. See the [http://www.commontk.org/index.php/Documentation whitepaper] for future plans.