pckage -
noun (Science and Technology) In computing jargon, a closely related set of programs, usually all designed for the same purpose and sold or used as a unit. Etymology: A specialized use of the figurative
sense of package, 'any related group of objects that is viewed or organized as a unit'. History and Usage: The word package has
been used in computing for at least two decades, but it was the appearance on the market in the early eighties of large numbers of commercial software packages for home computers and PCs that brought the word into popular usage. To the lay user, the commercial software package can
appear to be a single program, since it contains all the
software required to carry out a single function (such as word processing or statistical analysis) and
there is usually a
user interface which draws together the various programs into a
single menu of functions. The finished animation was then imported into Macromind Director, a 2D moving graphics package, where
it was layered over a textured background. Creative Review Mar. 1990, p.
52 It's the first UNIX spreadsheet package to take advantage of
windowing , mouse support, dialog boxes, and pulldown menus. UnixWorld Apr. 1990, p. 145
