A plug-in is a file containing data used to alter, enhance, or extend the operation of a parent application program.[1]
History[]
Digital Darkroom from Silicon Beach Software was the first Macintosh program to incorporate a plug-in architecture in 1988. Ed Bomke at Silicon Beach is credited with having coined the term "plug-in".[2][3][4]
Plug-ins, both commercially and indepently authored, can usually be downloaded for free and are stored locally. Plug-ins can come in different versions specific to particular operating systems (such as Windows or macOS).[1]
Web browser plug-ins[]
The Netscape Navigator web browser supports plug-ins which display or interpret a particular file format or protocol such as QuickTime, RealAudio, Adobe PDF, Flash Player, or Corel CMX (vector graphics). The file to be displayed is included in a web page using an EMBED HTML tag.[1] However, such browser plug-ins and extensions have gradually fallen out of favor with the rise of malware, especially on PCs.[5]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Plug-in at the Free On-Line Dictionary Of Computing. 1996-05-25.
- ↑ Electronic Darkrooms Perform Photo Retouching, Enhancement Traditionally done in labs, Shutterbug. 1999-12. Archived 2008-11-03.
- ↑ Photoshop Compatible Plug-Ins, Shutterbug. 1999-12-01. Archived 2008-11-03.
- ↑ Monochrome Plug-Ins; From Color To Black & White In A Few Steps by Joe Farace, Shutterbug. 2009-02-01. Archived 2008-11-03.
- ↑ Google and Mozilla pull the plug on Adobe Flash: Tech giants disable the program on browsers following 'critical' security flaw by Victoria Woollaston, Daily Mail. 2015-07-14.
External links[]
- Plug-in at the Adobe Wiki
- Plug-in at the Electronic Music Wiki
- Plug-in at the Macromedia Wiki
- Plug-in at Wiktionary
- Plug-in (computing) at Wikipedia
