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

---

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.

More on [ Computer software ]

TechCrunch

This Week on CrunchBoard
Dan Kimerling Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:30:55 -0000
Does this remind you of your job? Maybe you should check out the latest job listings on CrunchBoard. Here is a sample from the past week: VP of EngineeringFederate Media - San Francisco, CA Senior QA EngineerCastTV - San Francsico, CA Senior Web/Business AnalystDigg.com - San Francisco,CA CTO/Co-FounderEmpatica3 - San Francisco, CA or New York, NY Senior PHP [...]
The Truth Behind Liveplace’s Photo-Realistic 3D World And OTOY’s Rendering Engine
Jason Kincaid Wed, 20 Aug 2008 23:33:00 -0000
Last week we posted a video that presented LivePlace, a 3D world with an incredible amount of detail. The impressive technology behind it is called OTOY, a streaming platform that allows developers to generate movie-quality renders “in the cloud”, which can then be streamed to more modestly-powered computers and even mobile phones. For [...]
Songbird Releases Beta of Web-Integrated Media Player
Jason Kincaid Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:35:40 -0000
Later this evening Songbird, the open source web-integrated media player, will the unveil the .7 beta release of its software that introduces scrobbling to Last.fm, speedier track importing, and a more polished interface among a number of other features. The resulting application is a marked improvement over the last release we covered, but still [...]
Jackson Fish Market Does It Again With Another Beautifully Useless App
Michael Arrington Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:59:00 -0000
I have no idea what these guys actually do to pull in revenue, but God love ‘em. Jackson Fish Market, the ex-Microsoft team that brought us They’re Beautiful and Tafiti, launched Elmore City Dance Club earlier today. The application, which was conceived, designed and built by the company’s summer interns (Tyler, Luke and Alex) lets [...]
Ten Startups Debut At TechStars Demo Day
Guest Author Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:22:14 -0000
Editor’s note: The following on-the-ground report comes from Don Dodge, who blogs at The Next Big Thing and is a business development executive for Microsoft. He is in Boulder, Colorado today attending TechStars demo day. Much like Y Combinator (which had its own demo day last week) and LaunchBox (which also had [...]
OpenSocial Now Reaches 350 Million Users, And Growing
Erick Schonfeld Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:21:52 -0000
Six months ago, OpenSocial was nothing but a list of promised partnerships. But the social network application platform backed by Google has made a lot of progress since then as those partners started to go live with their OpenSocial Apps. First there was MySpace and Orkut, then Hi5, and most recently Friendster. [...]

InternetNews Realtime News for IT Managers

Wall Street Boos, but Salesforce Q2 Hits Record
Top management outlines key components in the firm's plans for the future, but Wall Street remains unimpressed.
Newer vPro Sports more Security Features
Second generation coming next month, Nehalem support due in a year.
Is Apple's iPhone Fix Enough?
Apple says an update addresses connectivity problems with the iPhone's 3G performance.

Subscribe to Internet RSS feed