End-user development is a research topic within the field of computer science and human-computer interaction describing activities or techniques that allow people who are not professional developers to create or modify a software artifact. A typical example of EUD is programming to extend and adapt an existing package such as an office suite.

There are two basic reasons why EUD has become popular ^{citation needed}. One is because organizations are facing delays on projects and using EUD can effectively cut the time of completion on a project. The second reason is that software tools are more powerful and easier to use.

Other examples of end-user development include the creation and modification of:

• 3D models created with end-user oriented tools and approaches such as Sketchup
• Animation scripts used by graphic artists to describe characters environments and how characters move to produce an intended animation
• Configuration files that blur the line between programs and data
• Contributions to open source projects where users of a software package contribute their own code for inclusion in the main package in some cases end-users participate as full-fledged developers
• Game modifications to introduce users own characters environments etc. many recent games are distributed with modification in mind
• Interaction scripts used in CRM call centres
• Process models used in workflow applications
• Prototypes and domain-specific programs written by businesspeople engineers and scientists to demonstrate or test specific theories
• Scientific models used in computer simulation
• Scripts and macros added to extend or automate office productivity suites and graphics applications.
• Simulations created using application definition software
• Spreadsheet models e.g. used for budgeting or risk analysis
• Web pages - plain HTML or HTML and scripting
• Wikis - a collaborative end-user development process

Lessons learned from EUD solutions can significantly influence the software life cycles for commercial software products in-house intranet/ extranet developments and enterprise application deployments.