TOX

Tox is a term that can refer to several distinct concepts in science and technology, and is sometimes used as a shorthand in those contexts. In general usage, it is related to poisons or poisonous substances, but it also names specific software projects.

In toxicology, a toxin is a poisonous substance produced by living organisms, such as animals, plants, or microbes. A toxicant, by contrast, is any poisonous substance regardless of origin, including synthetic chemicals. The effects of toxins depend on the dose, route of exposure, and the organism exposed. Terms such as LD50 summarize the toxicity of a substance, reflecting the amount required to kill 50 percent of a test population under defined conditions. Toxicology distinguishes natural toxins from synthetic or man-made toxicants and studies mechanisms of action, exposure pathways, and risk assessment.

In software development, tox refers to a widely used open-source tool designed to automate testing in multiple isolated environments. The program, often run from a project’s configuration file, creates virtual environments, installs dependencies, and runs test suites across different Python versions or configurations. This helps maintain cross-version compatibility and streamlines continuous integration workflows, particularly in Python packaging and testing.

In the realm of communications, Tox is an open-source, peer-to-peer protocol and family of clients for encrypted instant messaging and voice/video communication. It emphasizes decentralization and end-to-end encryption, aiming to avoid central servers for message storage and transmission. Various clients implement the protocol, providing users with secure, private communication without reliance on traditional centralized services.

Etymology-wise, the prefix tox- derives from the Greek toxikon, meaning poison, used in the formation of words such as toxin and toxic.