A software package is used in object-oriented programming to name a group of related classes of a program. Packages are useful to measure and control the inherent coupling of a program.

In a modular program, even outside object-oriented programming, a software package may refer to any component (module) that can be integrated into the main program. Typically this is done by the end user in a well-defined interface. In other contexts the integration must occur at source code level of a given programming language.

Import

An example of a package is the java.io package which contains or groups together all the classes in the Java programming language that aid input and output of data, such as the buffered reader class which is used to accept user input from the keyboard. When a class is imported the user is free to use as if it were in their local directory.

A single class can be imported like so:

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.FileReader;
...
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("fooo.bar"));

A user can also import all classes within a package by adding replacing the class name with a *.

import java.io.*;
...
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("fooo.bar"));

See also:

• Science: Math: Software (461)

• Math Answer Key: Calculus
  mathanswerkey.com
  Automatically differentiates or integrates any math expression the user enters, and shows all steps. Also provides a library of examples including product, quotient, chain rule, substitution and integration by parts.
• Wolfram Mathematica Online Integrator
  integrals.wolfram.com
  Allows users to enter an integrand in order to return the indefinite integral.
• Topics in Integral and Differential Calculus
  ma.utexas.edu
  Contains several applets illustrating fundamental concepts of single-variable calculus.