1. 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. 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)
