6.1.3 Resources

Resources, for our purposes, are interface-specific information such as menu titles or button positions, which are stored so they can be easily changed without affecting the underlying program functionality. (A system may also treat the main program code as a resource.)

On some systems you might change the resources by editing values in a text file; on others you might need to use a special resource editor. But it typically won't require recompiling the application itself, and it won't require access to the source code. During prototyping, a few simple changes to resources might dramatically improve an interface, with no "real" programming. When the system is ready to ship, resources can be changed so the product can be used in countries with a different language.