Программный компонент
Pfister C. Component Software / Пфистер К. Компонентное программное обеспечение, 2.1):
- (перевод) «Компонент — это элемент конструкции с определенным, зафиксированным в спецификации, интерфейсом и явными зависимостями от контекста. Компоненты могут распространяться независимо друг от друга и компоноваться третьей стороной.
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Очевидно, это возможно только, если части ПО из разных источников могут быть объединены так, чтобы они могли работать должным образом. Такие блоки для построения ПО называются программными компонентами, в отличие от монолитных программ.»
- (оригинал) «A component is a unit of composition with a contractually specified interface and explicit context dependencies only. Components can be deployed independently of each other and are subject to composition by third parties.
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Obviously this is only possible if software pieces from different origins can be composed such that they work together in a meaningful way. Such software building blocks are called software components, in contrast to monolithic software.»
(в качестве пояснения и исторической справки) Leigh C. Make Way for Oberon/F, 1997:
« Oberon (and Oberon/F) is an object oriented language. The language was developed with the notion of extensibility of software, especially by the user. Extensibility allows a user to extend the software without having any original source. This is different from the typical object oriented approach of class libraries where source code often must be available to the user of the libraries for further inspection and reuse. In Oberon, new functionality can be added at any time without the original software author's help. New software is added to or embedded in the user's software to extend its original functionality. For example, a word processor can have a movie-playing module added by a different company at a later date without the word processor author having anything to do with it. »