component architecture

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

component architecture

   <programming> A notion in {object-oriented} programming where
   "components" of a program are completely generic.  Instead of
   having a specialised set of {methods} and {fields} they have
   generic methods through which the component can advertise the
   functionality it supports to the system into which it is
   loaded.  This enables completely {dynamic loading} of
   {objects}.  {JavaBeans} is an example of a component
   architecture.

   See also {design pattern}.

   (1997-11-20)