Non-disruptive embedding of specialized elements

1. A system including

specialized elements that are restricted to a particular domain of data analysis or processing; and

configurable data that permits the specialized elements to be tailored to a particular application, thereby expanding applicability of the specialized elements to plural applications within the particular domain;

wherein

the configurable data is configured at devtime to provide the link between the particular application and the specialized elements; and

the link is used at runtime to enable the specialized elements to respond to queries from the particular application.

2. A system as in claim 1 , wherein the configurable data is provided in one or more flat files, computational graphs, or relational databases generated or modified at devtime and accessed at runtime.

3. A system as in claim 1 , wherein at least some of the configurable data is configured through manual editing.

4. A system as in claim 1 , wherein at least some of the configurable data is configured through an input interface provided by the supplier along with the specialized elements.

5. A system as in claim 1 , wherein a featurizer provided by the supplier is run at devtime to create a linkable library that implements the specialized elements, with the linkable library accessible by the particular application in accordance with the configurable data.

6. A system as in claim 5 , wherein the featurizer analyzes dependencies in the configurable data.

7. A system as in claim 5 , wherein the particular application links to and uses the linkable library to perform at least one of

marshaling data from the particular application;

modifying models used by the specialized elements in response to the data;

using the models to respond to the queries from the particular application.

8. A method including the steps of

using specialized elements that are restricted to a particular domain of data analysis or processing;

configuring configurable data that permits the specialized elements to be tailored to a particular application, thereby expanding applicability of the specialized elements to plural applications within the particular domain; and

executing the particular application on a computing device to generate a result;

wherein

the configurable data is configured at devtime to provide the link between the particular application and the specialized elements; and

the link is used at runtime to enable the specialized elements to respond to queries from the particular application.

9. A method as in claim 8 , wherein the configurable data is provided in one or more flat files, computational graphs, or relational databases generated or modified at devtime and accessed at runtime.

10. A method as in claim 8 , wherein at least some of the configurable data is configured through manual editing.

11. A method as in claim 8 , wherein at least some of the configurable data is configured through an input interface provided by the supplier along with the specialized elements.

12. A method as in claim 8 , wherein a featurizer provided by the supplier is run at devtime to create a linkable library that implements the specialized elements, with the linkable library accessible by the particular application in accordance with the configurable data.

13. A method as in claim 12 , wherein the featurizer analyzes dependencies in the configurable data.

14. A method as in claim 12 , wherein the particular application links to and uses the linkable library to perform at least one of

marshaling data from the particular application;

modifying models used by the specialized elements in response to the data;

using the models to respond to the queries from the particular application.