Plug-in (computing)

[11][12] Programmers typically implement plug-ins as shared libraries, which get dynamically loaded at run time.

Thus the HyperCard stack became a self-contained application in its own right, distributable as a single entity that end-users could run without the need for additional installation-steps.

[15] In the mid-1970s, the EDT text editor ran on the Unisys VS/9 operating system for the UNIVAC Series 90 mainframe computer.

Early personal computer software with plug-in capability included HyperCard and QuarkXPress on the Apple Macintosh, both released in 1987.

In 1988, Silicon Beach Software included plug-in capability in Digital Darkroom and SuperPaint.