the activity
of contributing to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an
effort or purpose; "he gave me an assist with the housework"; "could
not walk without assistance"; "rescue party went to their aid";
"offered his help in unloading"
Often used to mean the continued support of a program or system of
programs once they have been written and released. Programs need to be
written with maintenance in mind because maintenance is generally done
by someone other than the original author.