Component

     From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

In telecommunication and computing, the term component has the following meanings:

• An assembly, or part thereof, that is essential to the operation of some larger assembly and is an immediate subdivision of the assembly to which it belongs. For example, a radio receiver may be a component of a complete radio set consisting of a combined transmitter-receiver, i.e., a transceiver. The same radio receiver could also be a subsystem of the combined transmitter-receiver, in which case the IF amplifier section would be a component of the receiver but not of the radio set. Similarly, within the IF amplifier section, items, such as resistors, capacitors, vacuum tubes, and transistors, are components of that section.
• In logistics, a part, or combination of parts having a specified function, that can only be installed or replaced as an entity. .
• In material, an assembly or any combination of parts, subassemblies, and assemblies mounted together in manufacture, assembly, maintenance, or rebuild.
• In software, the word has an emerging meaning generalizing the idea of a software pattern, software object, software framework and software architecture. A software component can be any of these. See also: component software theory, software component.
• In thermodynamics, a component is a chemically distinct constituent of a phase of a system.