In computer programming contexts, a data cube is a three- (or higher) dimensional array of values, commonly used to describe a time series of image data. If the images are in color, then the array is generally four-dimensional, with the dimensions representing image X and Y coordinates, time, and RGB color plane. Many high-level computer languages treat data cubes and other large arrays as single entities distinct from their contents. These languages, of which APL, IDL, NumPy, PDL, and S-Lang are examples, allow the programmer to manipulate complete film clips and other data en masse with simple expressions derived from linear algebra and vector mathematics. Some languages (such as PDL) distinguish between a list of images and a data cube, while many (such as IDL) do not. A tensor of rank three may be represented as a data cube. A data cube (or datacube) is also the form of data used in the field of imaging spectrometry, since a spectrally-resolved image is represented as a three-dimensional volume.
