ekspe

ekspe is a hypothetical open standard and software framework designed to support reproducible experiments in data science and software development. It provides a language-agnostic protocol for describing experiments, data sources, configurations, and evaluation metrics, along with a reference implementation and tooling for execution, logging, and result aggregation. The name is used in this article to illustrate a wiki-style entry about a conceptual project.

Core components include an Experiment Definition Language (EDL) to specify steps and parameters; a Data Provenance and Versioning module to track inputs, transformations, and lineage; an Execution Engine capable of running experiments in containers or cloud environments; and a Result Registry with standardized metadata for comparison and sharing. A plugin system enables integration with data sources, models, evaluators, and visualizers. The design emphasizes reproducibility, modularity, and interoperability.

ekspe aims to streamline collaborative experimentation by providing container-friendly configurations, deterministic execution where possible, and citation-ready outputs. It is described as a community-driven project with no single governing body, and implementations may vary in scope and feature set. The concept has been discussed in academic and industry settings as a way to unify experiment workflows, from research prototyping to production-grade A/B testing. Critics note that creating and maintaining standards across diverse tools remains challenging.

See also: reproducible research, open standards, experiment management.