The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

component architecture

    A notion in object-oriented programming where
   "components" of a program are completely generic.  Instead of
   having a specialised set of methods and fields they have
   generic methods through which the component can advertise the
   functionality it supports to the system into which it is
   loaded.  This enables completely dynamic loading of
   objects.  JavaBeans is an example of a component
   architecture.

   See also design pattern.

   (1997-11-20)