1. <
programming> An independent piece of
software which
forms part of one or more larger
programs. Different
languages have different concepts of a
module but there are
several common ideas.
Modules are usually compiled seperately (in compiled
languages) and provide an
abstraction or information hiding
mechanism so that a module's implementation can be changed
without requiring any change to other
modules. In this
respect they are similar to
objects in an {object-oriented
language}, though a
module may contain many
procedures
and/or
functions which would correspond to many objects.
A
module often has its own
name space for
identifiers so
the same identifier may be used to mean different things in
different
modules.
[
Difference from package?].
2. <
hardware> An independent assembly of electronic components
with some distinct function, e.g. a RAM
module consisting of
several RAM chips mounted on a small circuit board.
(1997-10-27)