| 1. | a separable component, frequently one that is interchangeable with others, for assembly into units of differing size, complexity, or function. |
| 2. | any of the individual, self-contained segments of a spacecraft, designed to perform a particular task: the spacecraft's command module; a lunar module. |
| 3. | a standard or unit for measuring. |
| 4. | a selected unit of measure, ranging in size from a few inches to several feet, used as a basis for the planning and standardization of building materials. |
| 5. | Mathematics. an Abelian group with a set of left or right operators forming a ring such that for any two operators and any group element the result of having the first operator act on the element, giving a second element, and the second operator act on the second element is equal to the result of having a single operator, formed by adding or multiplying the two operators, act on the first element. Compare ring 1 (def. 23). |
| 6. | Computers.
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module
1.
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.
(1997-10-27)