1) in coding, abstracting a current or planned hard coded value or function into a container that is controllable external to the main function, that could be changed without affecting the main function if required (may involve recompile but no change to the main code set).
2) in feature design:
a. hardcoding: feature is coded to the system not allowing for configuration
b. parametric: feature is configurable via table driven, or properties files with limited parametric values
c. softcoding: feature uses “engines” that derive results based on any number of parametric values (i.e. business rules in BRE); rules are coded but exist as parameters in system,written in script form
