Codex
Applications are general purpose data compression applications which allow
users to compress and decompress files, supporting a wide variety of archive
types. Codex Applications rely on Codex Plug-Ins and the Codex Runtime
for their data compression and decompression functionality.
A Codex Application (de)compresses archives in formats supported
by the Codex Plug-Ins already installed on the system. Codex Plug-Ins
may also provide additional functionality, specific to the archive types
they support, which the Codex Applications can expose to their
user.
The Codex Application may be thought of as the common interface
that the end-user sees when interacting with all varieties of Codex Plug-Ins.
Whereas the archives types supported and functionality offered by plug-ins
vary greatly from plug-in to plug-in, the gateway to all that functionality
is the application, presenting the end-user with a single unified environment
for managing all sorts of different archive formats all at once.