Software engine
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In computer science, a software engine refers to the core of a computer program. Software engines drive the functionality of the program, and are distinct from peripheral aspects of the program, such as look and feel.
[edit] Elucidation
The term Engine when used to describe a piece of software is frequently used by developers when speaking to a wider, layman audience, to describe what they would otherwise refer to as library, platform, SDK or object, to denote a encapsulated block of functionality.
The term most frequently shows up in marketing material that need to describe software internals, as well as in product names. (see http://www.ableton.com/live-7-whats-new, http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/streamingengine, http://embird.com/sw/embird/fonteng.htm)
Distinct definitions have however become established in certain fields, such as 3D rendering engine or game engine. Many of these have that in common, that they describe an input/output system where the output is of a different order than the input, such as the conversion of HTML to a rendered page, as opposed something like a spell checking component where the input and output are of the same order, only slightly different. But it is not a rule, just a tendency.
[edit] See also
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