- Software extension
A software extension is a
computer program designed to be incorporated into another piece ofsoftware in order to enhance, or "extend", the functionalities of the latter. On its own, the program is not useful or functional.Examples of software applications that support extensions include the
Mozilla Firefox Web browser ,Adobe Photoshop andMicrosoft Windows Explorer shell extension s. It is common to find that applications whose scope is potentially unbounded will feature an extensions interface (API ), and the API description will often be published so that third-party developers can produce extensions.Extension mechanisms can also be found in some
operating systems such as withLinux kernel modules. Theruntime environment of someprogramming languages also support extensions, such asPHP with support for extensions that provide an interface to third party libraries, and extensions to offerdebugging ,profiling , security and performance enhancement.Other popular terms used to denote extensions are
add-ons , add-ins orplugins .The terms modules and components are also used, but they don't stress the aspect of extending. They are terms to generally describe the structure of programs and can be used for the extended core program as well.
Programs with Extensions support
fnb|a1see
Internet_explorer#Extensibility for more details
fnb|a2seeMicrosoft_Office#Extensibility for more detailsReferences
*http://www.gnome.org/projects/epiphany/documentation/extensions/ch01.html#id2469157
*Firefox_extension
*http://contributing.openoffice.org/programming.html
*GIMP#Effects,_scripts_and_filters
*http://gimp-sharp.sourceforge.net/
*Blender (software) ee also
*
Extension (Mac OS)
*List of Firefox extensions
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.