Third-party software component

In computer programming, a third-party software component is a reusable software component developed to be either freely distributed or sold by an entity other than the original vendor of the development platform.

The third-party software component market thrives because many programmers believe that component-oriented development improves the efficiency and the quality of developing custom applications.

Common third-party software includes macros, bots, and software/scripts to be run as add-ons for popular developing software.

[1] In the case of operating systems such as Windows XP, Vista or 7, there are applications installed by default, such as Windows Media Player or Internet Explorer.

This programming-tool-related article is a stub.