Software engine

A software engine is a core component of a complex software system. The word "engine" is a metaphor of a car's engine. Thus a software engine is a complex subsystem.

There is no formal guideline for what should be called an engine, but the term has become widespread in the software industry.

Notable examples

• Chess engine
• Correlation engine
• Database engine
• Graphics engine
• Physics engine
• Polymorphic engine
• Reasoning engine
• Recommendation engine
• Regular expression engine
• Search engine
• Workflow engine

Multi-engine systems

• Mainstream web browsers have both a Rendering engine and a JavaScript engine.

• Modern video games are often based on a Game engine. Many of these also have specialized Physics or Graphics engines.