Environment modules allow developers (and students) to change the necessary environment paths in a user’s Shell in order to use a particular version of a software with the necessary libraries required (among other things). That means, for example, that when the default java version on the system is 1.7, you can load the env. module for Java 1.8 with 1 simple command and you can start using Java 1.8 for your project.
Both research and student desktops and servers have a large number of environment modules available for usage. Student desktops will have for the new academic semester a bigger collection of modules to use.
How-to
To list all the available modules, run:
$ module avail
To show what the module will change in the user’s environment, type:
$ module show MODULE_NAME
To load an environment module, type:
$ module load MODULE_NAME
To list the currently enabled modules, type:
$ module list
To unload a module, type:
$ module unload MODULE_NAME
To unload ALL active modules, type:
$ module purge