Computer software (or simply software) is the programs and procedures that enable a computer to perform a specific task, as opposed to the physical components of the system (hardware). This includes application software such as a word processor, which enables a user to perform a task, and system software such as an operating system, which enables other software to run properly, by interfacing with hardware and with other software.

The term "software" was first used in this sense by John W. Tukey in 1957. In computer science and software engineering, computer software is all information processed by computer systems, programs and data. The concept of reading different sequences of instructions into the memory of a device to control computations was invented by Charles Babbage as part of his difference engine. The theory that is the basis for most modern software was first proposed by Alan Turing in his 1935 essay Computable numbers with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem. Hally, Mike (2005:79). Electronic brains/Stories from the dawn of the computer age. British Broadcasting Corporation and Granta Books, London. ISBN 1-86-207663-4.

Relationship to hardware

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Computer software is so called in contrast to computer hardware, which encompasses the physical interconnections and devices required to store and execute (or run) the software. In computers, software is loaded into RAM and executed in the central processing unit. At the lowest level, software consists of a machine language specific to an individual processor. A machine language consists of groups of binary values signifying processor instructions (object code), which change the state of the computer from its preceding state. Software is an ordered sequence of instructions for changing the state of the computer hardware in a particular sequence. It is generally written in high-level programming languages that are easier and more efficient for humans to use (closer to natural language) than machine language. High-level languages are compiled or interpreted into machine language object code. Software may also be written in an assembly language, essentially, a mnemonic representation of a machine language using a natural language alphabet. Assembly language must be assembled into object code via an assembler.

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eWeek - RSS Feeds

How to Approach Access Control in the Social Networking Age
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:44:19 -0400
“Here comes trouble,” say John Yun and Jay Kelley from Juniper Networks. Trouble in this case means social networking. Like instant messaging and e-mail before it, social networking can cause worries to companies that havent learned to adapt - and real trouble to companies that havent learned how to manage it. - Enterprises are beginning to adopt social networking applications. Theyre doing it for the same reasons millions of consumers do: because they offer a fast, easy-to-use way to keep in touch, organize activities and share ideas. However, businesses and IT executives are wary, and for good reason. W...
OSCON: Linux Rocks in Mobile, Embedded Realm
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:07:08 -0400
Jim Zemlin of the Linux Foundation says Linux is the platform of choice for the mobile and embedded platforms. Zemlin will speak on the state of mobile Linux at OSCON. - Linux is here to stay in the mobile and embedded worlds. That is the message Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, plans to deliver at the upcoming O'Reilly OSCON (Open Source Convention). OSCON runs July 21 to 25 in Portland, Ore., and Zemlin will be one of the first speakers ...
AMD Tries to Redefine Processor Business
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:50:13 -0400
After AMD CEO Hector Ruiz leaves his post and President Dirk Meyer takes day-to-day control of the chip maker, AMD will embark on a less ambitious agenda that will focus on chips for servers and PCs as well as processors for the low-cost notebook market. - Former Advanced Micro Devices CEO Hector Ruiz never lacked an ambitious agenda for the small but innovative chip maker when he took the top leadership role in 2002. During his six years as AMD's CEO, Ruiz oversaw the development of the Opteron, which gave the company a way to enter the lucrati...
Lawmakers Seek Opt-in Regime for NebuAd
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:11:50 -0400
Rejecting NebuAd's deep packet inspection model, Ed Markey calls for user permission before ISPs could deploy the DPI technology, which tracks Web users' complete travels over the Internet and serves up ads based on those patterns. ISP customers can opt out of the online advertising program but not online tracking. - It has not been a good few months for NebuAd, the Silicon Valley startup pushing DPI, or deep packet inspection, as a source of new revenue for ISPs. Without a user's consent, NebuAd collects information about the user's browsing history and serves up ads based on those travels. Privacy advocate...
IBM, MLB Connect on WebSphere Web 2.0 Deal
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:05:18 -0400
IBM and Major League Baseball ink a deal to let umpires create mashups with Google Gadgets and IBM WebSphere Portal software. The partnership is a sign of the snowballing momentum of Web 2.0 technology in the mainstream. - Call it Web 2.0 meets Major League Baseball. Computers in the dressing rooms of MLB umpires have been loaded with IBM's WebSphere Portal software to help the officials prepare for games. IBM and MLB together placed the Web browser-based MLB Umpire Portals on desktop computers in the 30 stadi...
Providing Real-Time Shopper Metrics
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:29:13 -0400
VideoMining launches a Web-based analytics tool designed to give retailers more insight into what customers are doing in their stores. - VideoMining, which sells in-store CRM solutions and analytics, is rolling out VideoMining Online, an Internet application designed to enable real-time access to shopper metrics. Announced July 15 at the IIR Shopper Insights in Action Conference, in Chicago, VideoMining Online helps automate the ...

The Seattle Times: Business & Technology

Former Microsoft manager gets 22-month sentence in embezzlement
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:30:58 -0700
Carolyn M. Gudmundson, the former Microsoft employee who pleaded guilty in January to embezzling about $1 million, was sentenced in federal court Friday to 22 months in prison.
Move aside, 3G
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:35:33 -0700
During the July 11 launch of the iPhone 3G, people stood in line for hours to buy what an incredulous security guard at the University Village...
Golf feeling economic slump
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:33:17 -0700
The rise of a young, Nike-christened Tiger Woods in the late 1990s turned a stodgy gentlemen's game into something fun and fashionable. Droves of viewers tuned in...

NYT > Technology

Novelties: Sweeping Panoramas, Courtesy of a Robot
Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:12:07 -0000
Robots already cut the grass and vacuum rugs. Now they are helping with a more artistic job: creating vast photographic panoramas with ordinary cameras.
Bits: Venture Funding Drops for Youngest Companies
Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:01:02 -0000
In an ominous sign, venture capital firms are cutting back on their investments in companies at their earliest stage of development to provide extra funding for later-stage companies.
Bits: A Book With 90,000 Authors
Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:13:09 -0000
A single-volume print encyclopedia produced by a German publisher using material from the 25,000 most popular articles on German Wikipedia will have an author page with about 90,000 names.

CNN.com - Technology

Futuristic windshield aims to help older drivers
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:31:35 -0400
Read full story for latest details.
Judge returns gray wolves to endangered list
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:22:29 -0400
Read full story for latest details.
Mount McKinley tour goes green
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:46:22 -0400
Read full story for latest details.

NPR Topics: Technology

Cities Gone Wireless: Safety Or Surveillance?
Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:01:00 -0400
While some U.S. cities have seen their dreams of wireless Internet access for all fade, others are creating wireless networks for a different purpose: surveillance. Vast networks of cameras on city streets and buses are aimed at public safety but have raised privacy concerns.
In Man Vs. Machine Poker Match, Machine Wins
Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:50:00 -0400
A computer program beats six professional poker players at Texas Hold 'Em. It's no easy feat, given that the computer isn't trained to spot a bluff.
Internet Changes Arctic Bay
Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:00:00 -0400
When a remote Inuit community got Internet access, traditional customs were suddenly in competition with YouTube. The result: a great music video.

BBC News | Technology | UK Edition

Unsafe chargers 'flooding' the UK
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:20:11 -0000
Trading Standards says hundreds of thousands of unsafe chargers for mobiles and games consoles could have come into the UK
'No decision' on giant database
Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:24:17 -0000
No decision has been taken on whether to gather details of all phone calls, e-mails and internet use, a security minister says.
Cern lab goes 'colder than space'
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:07:09 -0000
A giant physics lab on the Swiss-French border is being cooled to a temperature lower than that of outer space.

Reuters Video: Technology

Anti-smoking vaccine on trial
Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:58:56 -0400
Jul 19 - Swedish scientists begin human trials on a shot intended to stop nicotine reaching the brain.
London's internet down the sewer
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:09:21 -0400
Jul 18 - Normally a company might object if you suggested its chief asset was down the sewer, but not the telecommunications company Geo.
Reuters Technology Week
Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:07:03 -0400
Jul. 17 - The new Wii music, the eco-tree city concept, and how jib-jabbing works.

AP Top Technology News At 8:24 a.m. EDT

Web networking photos come back to bite defendants
By ERIC TUCKER Sat, 19 Jul 2008 12:22:26 -0000
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Two weeks after Joshua Lipton was charged in a drunken driving crash that seriously injured a woman, the 20-year-old college junior attended a Halloween party dressed as a prisoner. Pictures from the party showed him in a black-and-white striped shirt and an orange jumpsuit labeled "Jail Bird."...
iPhones hot even in places Apple has yet to reach
By PAUL SONNE Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:32:07 -0000
MOSCOW (AP) -- In the Soviet days, Russians asked their American friends to bring blue jeans, rock records and other Western goods into the country. Today Russians can buy almost anything they want here - but they are still begging for one item: Apple Inc.'s slick iPhone....
Big shareholder backs Yahoo board over Icahn
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:31:07 -0000
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- One of Yahoo Inc.'s largest shareholders is supporting the re-election of the Internet company's incumbent board, delivering a significant blow to an attempted coup being led by activist investor Carl Icahn....

CNET News.com

Facebook sues German rival
Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:22:00 -0700
Social networking giant, which launched its own German language version earlier this year, asserts that StudiVZ simply replaced Facebook's "blue color scheme with a red one."
VC funding either flat or falling
Sat, 19 Jul 2008 12:25:00 -0700
Major VC watchers release somewhat conflicting reports. However, neither one said venture capital funding is actually on the rise.
Women's tech conference draws Macy's, not Google
Sat, 19 Jul 2008 09:31:00 -0700
At the BlogHer 2008 conference, female bloggers are surrounded by the very mainstream brand advertisers that the Internet media industry has clamored to attract for the last 10 years.

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