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Software
Software is a collection of instructions and data that tell a computer
how to work. This is in contrast to physical hardware, from which the
system is built and actually performs the work. In computer science
and software engineering, computer software is all information
processed by computer systems, including programs and data.
Computer software includes computer programs, libraries and related
non-executable data, such as online documentation or digital media.
Computer hardware and software require each other and neither can
be realistically used on its own.

At the lowest programming level, executable code consists of machine

language instructions supported by an individual processor—typically
a central processing unit (CPU) or a graphics processing unit (GPU). A
machine language consists of groups of binary values signifying
processor instructions that change the state of the computer from its A diagram showing how the
preceding state. For example, an instruction may change the value user interacts with
stored in a particular storage location in the computer—an effect that application software on a
is not directly observable to the user. An instruction may also invoke typical desktop computer.
one of many input or output operations, for example displaying some The application software
text on a computer screen; causing state changes which should be layer interfaces with the
visible to the user. The processor executes the instructions in the operating system, which in
order they are provided, unless it is instructed to "jump" to a turn communicates with the
different instruction, or is interrupted by the operating system. As of hardware. The arrows
2015, most personal computers, smartphone devices and servers indicate information flow.
have processors with multiple execution units or multiple processors
performing computation together, and computing has become a much
more concurrent activity than in the past.

The majority of software is written in high-level programming languages. They are easier and
more efficient for programmers because they are closer to natural languages than machine
languages.[1 ] High-level languages are translated into machine language using a compiler or an
interpreter or a combination of the two. Software may also be written in a low-level assembly
language, which has strong correspondence to the computer's machine language instructions and is
translated into machine language using an assembler.

Contents
History
Types
Purpose, or domain of use
Nature or domain of execution
Programming tools
Topics
Architecture
Execution
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Quality and reliability

License
Patents
Design and implementation
Industry and organizations
See also
References
Sources
External links

History
An outline (algorithm) for what would have been the first piece of software was written by Ada
Lovelace in the 19th century, for the planned Analytical Engine.[2] She created proofs to show how
the engine would calculate Bernoulli Numbers.[2] Because of the proofs and the algorithm, she is
considered the first computer programmer.[3][4]

The first theory about software—prior to the creation of computers as we know them today—was
proposed by Alan Turing in his 1935 essay, On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the
Entscheidungsproblem (decision problem).

This eventually led to the creation of the academic fields of computer science and software
engineering; Both fields study software and its creation. Computer science is the theoretical study
of computer and software (Turing's essay is an example of computer science), whereas software
engineering is the application of engineering and development of software.

However, prior to 1946, software was not yet the programs stored in the memory of stored-
program digital computers, as we now understand it. The first electronic computing devices were
instead rewired in order to "reprogram" them.

In 2000, Fred Shapiro, a librarian at the Yale Law School, published a letter revealing that John
Wilder Tukey's 1958 paper "The Teaching of Concrete Mathematics"[5][6] contained the earliest
known usage of the term "software" found in a search of JSTOR's electronic archives, predating the
OED's citation by two years.[7 ] This led many to credit Tukey with coining the term, particularly in
obituaries published that same year,[8] although Tukey never claimed credit for any such coinage.
In 1995, Paul Niquette claimed he had originally coined the term in October 1953, although he
could not find any documents supporting his claim.[9] The earliest known publication of the term
"software" in an engineering context was in August 1953 by Richard R. Carhart, in a Rand
Corporation Research Memorandum.[1 0]

Types
On virtually all computer platforms, software can be grouped into a few broad categories.

Purpose, or domain of use

Based on the goal, computer software can be divided into:

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Application software

which is software that uses the computer system to

perform special functions or provide entertainment
functions beyond the basic operation of the computer
itself. There are many different types of application
software, because the range of tasks that can be
performed with a modern computer is so large—see list
of software. Blender, a free software program
System software

which is software for managing computer hardware

behaviour, as to provide basic functionalities that are required by users, or for other software to
run properly, if at all. System software is also designed for providing a platform for running
application software,[11] and it includes the following:
Operating systems

which are essential collections of software that manage resources and provide common
services for other software that runs "on top" of them. Supervisory programs, boot loaders,
shells and window systems are core parts of operating systems. In practice, an operating
system comes bundled with additional software (including application software) so that a user
can potentially do some work with a computer that only has one operating system.
Device drivers

which operate or control a particular type of device that is attached to a computer. Each
device needs at least one corresponding device driver; because a computer typically has at
minimum at least one input device and at least one output device, a computer typically needs
more than one device driver.
Utilities

which are computer programs designed to assist users in the maintenance and care of their
computers.
Malicious software or malware

which is software that is developed to harm and disrupt computers. As such, malware is
undesirable. Malware is closely associated with computer-related crimes, though some malicious
programs may have been designed as practical jokes.

Nature or domain of execution

Desktop applications such as web browsers and Microsoft Office, as well as smartphone and
tablet applications (called "apps"). (There is a push in some parts of the software industry to
merge desktop applications with mobile apps, to some extent. Windows 8, and later Ubuntu
Touch, tried to allow the same style of application user interface to be used on desktops, laptops
and mobiles.)
JavaScript scripts are pieces of software traditionally embedded in web pages that are run
directly inside the web browser when a web page is loaded without the need for a web browser
plugin. Software written in other programming languages can also be run within the web browser if
the software is either translated into JavaScript, or if a web browser plugin that supports that
language is installed; the most common example of the latter is ActionScript scripts, which are
supported by the Adobe Flash plugin.
Server software, including:
Web applications, which usually run on the web server and output dynamically generated web
pages to web browsers, using e.g. PHP, Java, ASP.NET, or even JavaScript that runs on the
server. In modern times these commonly include some JavaScript to be run in the web
browser as well, in which case they typically run partly on the server, partly in the web browser.

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Plugins and extensions are software that extends or modifies the functionality of another piece of
software, and require that software be used in order to function;
Embedded software resides as firmware within embedded systems, devices dedicated to a
single use or a few uses such as cars and televisions (although some embedded devices such as
wireless chipsets can themselves be part of an ordinary, non-embedded computer system such
as a PC or smartphone).[12] In the embedded system context there is sometimes no clear
distinction between the system software and the application software. However, some embedded
systems run embedded operating systems, and these systems do retain the distinction between
system software and application software (although typically there will only be one, fixed
application which is always run).
Microcode is a special, relatively obscure type of embedded software which tells the processor
itself how to execute machine code, so it is actually a lower level than machine code. It is typically
proprietary to the processor manufacturer, and any necessary correctional microcode software
updates are supplied by them to users (which is much cheaper than shipping replacement
processor hardware). Thus an ordinary programmer would not expect to ever have to deal with it.

Programming tools
Programming tools are also software in the form of programs or applications that software
developers (also known as
programmers, coders, hackers or software engineers) use to create,
debug, maintain (i.e. improve or fix), or otherwise support software.

Software is written in one or more programming languages; there are many programming
languages in existence, and each has at least one implementation, each of which consists of its own
set of programming tools. These tools may be relatively self-contained programs such as compilers,
debuggers, interpreters, linkers, and text editors, that can be combined to accomplish a task; or
they may form an integrated development environment (IDE), which combines much or all of the
functionality of such self-contained tools. IDEs may do this by either invoking the relevant
individual tools or by re-implementing their functionality in a new way. An IDE can make it easier
to do specific tasks, such as searching in files in a particular project. Many programming language
implementations provide the option of using both individual tools or an IDE.

Topics

Architecture
Users often see things differently from programmers. People who use modern general purpose
computers (as opposed to embedded systems, analog computers and supercomputers) usually see
three layers of software performing a variety of tasks: platform, application, and user software.

Platform software

The Platform includes the firmware, device drivers, an operating system, and typically a graphical
user interface which, in total, allow a user to interact with the computer and its peripherals
(associated equipment). Platform software often comes bundled with the computer. On a PC one
will usually have the ability to change the platform software.
Application software

Application software or Applications are what most people think of when they think of software.
Typical examples include office suites and video games. Application software is often purchased
separately from computer hardware. Sometimes applications are bundled with the computer, but
that does not change the fact that they run as independent applications. Applications are usually

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independent programs from the operating system, though they are often tailored for specific
platforms. Most users think of compilers, databases, and other "system software" as applications.
User-written software

End-user development tailors systems to meet users' specific needs. User software includes
spreadsheet templates and word processor templates. Even email filters are a kind of user
software. Users create this software themselves and often overlook how important it is.
Depending on how competently the user-written software has been integrated into default
application packages, many users may not be aware of the distinction between the original
packages, and what has been added by co-workers.

Execution
Computer software has to be "loaded" into the computer's storage (such as the hard drive or
memory). Once the software has loaded, the computer is able to execute the software. This
involves passing instructions from the application software, through the system software, to the
hardware which ultimately receives the instruction as machine code. Each instruction causes the
computer to carry out an operation—moving data, carrying out a computation, or altering the
control flow of instructions.

Data movement is typically from one place in memory to another. Sometimes it involves moving
data between memory and registers which enable high-speed data access in the CPU. Moving data,
especially large amounts of it, can be costly. So, this is sometimes avoided by using "pointers" to
data instead. Computations include simple operations such as incrementing the value of a variable
data element. More complex computations may involve many operations and data elements
together.

Quality and reliability

Software quality is very important, especially for commercial and system software like Microsoft
Office, Microsoft Windows and Linux. If software is faulty (buggy), it can delete a person's work,
crash the computer and do other unexpected things. Faults and errors are called "bugs" which are
often discovered during alpha and beta testing. Software is often also a victim to what is known as
software aging, the progressive performance degradation resulting from a combination of unseen
bugs.

Many bugs are discovered and eliminated (debugged) through software testing. However, software
testing rarely—if ever—eliminates every bug; some programmers say that "every program has at
least one more bug" (Lubarsky's Law).[1 3] In the waterfall method of software development,
separate testing teams are typically employed, but in newer approaches, collectively termed agile
software development, developers often do all their own testing, and demonstrate the software to
users/clients regularly to obtain feedback. Software can be tested through unit testing, regression
testing and other methods, which are done manually, or most commonly, automatically, since the
amount of code to be tested can be quite large. For instance, NASA has extremely rigorous
software testing procedures for many operating systems and communication functions. Many
NASA-based operations interact and identify each other through command programs. This enables
many people who work at NASA to check and evaluate functional systems overall. Programs
containing command software enable hardware engineering and system operations to function
much easier together.

License

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The software's license gives the user the right to use the software in the licensed environment, and
in the case of free software licenses, also grants other rights such as the right to make copies.

Proprietary software can be divided into two types:

freeware, which includes the category of "free trial" software or "freemium" software (in the past,
the term shareware was often used for free trial/freemium software). As the name suggests,
freeware can be used for free, although in the case of free trials or freemium software, this is
sometimes only true for a limited period of time or with limited functionality.
software available for a fee, often inaccurately termed "commercial software", which can only be
legally used on purchase of a license.

Open-source software, on the other hand, comes with a free software license, granting the recipient
the rights to modify and redistribute the software.

Patents
Software patents, like other types of patents, are theoretically supposed to give an inventor an
exclusive, time-limited license for a detailed idea (e.g. an algorithm) on how to implement a piece
of software, or a component of a piece of software. Ideas for useful things that software could do,
and user requirements, are not supposed to be patentable, and concrete implementations (i.e. the
actual software packages implementing the patent) are not supposed to be patentable either—the
latter are already covered by copyright, generally automatically. So software patents are supposed
to cover the middle area, between requirements and concrete implementation. In some countries,
a requirement for the claimed invention to have an effect on the physical world may also be part of
the requirements for a software patent to be held valid—although since all useful software has
effects on the physical world, this requirement may be open to debate. Meanwhile, American
copyright law was applied to various aspects of the writing of the software code.[1 4]

Software patents are controversial in the software industry with many people holding different
views about them. One of the sources of controversy is that the aforementioned split between
initial ideas and patent does not seem to be honored in practice by patent lawyers—for example the
patent for Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP), which purported to claim rights over any
programming tool implementing the idea of AOP, howsoever implemented. Another source of
controversy is the effect on innovation, with many distinguished experts and companies arguing
that software is such a fast-moving field that software patents merely create vast additional
litigation costs and risks, and actually retard innovation. In the case of debates about software
patents outside the United States, the argument has been made that large American corporations
and patent lawyers are likely to be the primary beneficiaries of allowing or continue to allow
software patents.

Design and implementation

Design and implementation of software varies depending on the complexity of the software. For
instance, the design and creation of Microsoft Word took much more time than designing and
developing Microsoft Notepad because the latter has much more basic functionality.

Software is usually designed and created (aka coded/written/programmed) in integrated

development environments (IDE) like Eclipse, IntelliJ and Microsoft Visual Studio that can simplify
the process and compile the software (if applicable). As noted in a different section, software is
usually created on top of existing software and the application programming interface (API) that
the underlying software provides like GTK+, JavaBeans or Swing. Libraries (APIs) can be
categorized by their purpose. For instance, the Spring Framework is used for implementing

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enterprise applications, the Windows Forms library is used for designing graphical user interface
(GUI) applications like Microsoft Word, and Windows Communication Foundation is used for
designing web services. When a program is designed, it relies upon the API. For instance, a
Microsoft Windows desktop application might call API functions in the .NET Windows Forms
library like Form1.Close() and Form1.Show()[1 5] to close or open the application. Without these
APIs, the programmer needs to write these functionalities entirely themselves. Companies like
Oracle and Microsoft provide their own APIs so that many applications are written using their
software libraries that usually have numerous APIs in them.

Data structures such as hash tables, arrays, and binary trees, and algorithms such as quicksort, can
be useful for creating software.

Computer software has special economic characteristics that make its design, creation, and
distribution different from most other economic goods.[1 6][1 7 ]

A person who creates software is called a programmer, software engineer or software developer,
terms that all have a similar meaning. More informal terms for programmer also exist such as
"coder" and "hacker"  – although use of the latter word may cause confusion, because it is more
often used to mean someone who illegally breaks into computer systems.

Industry and organizations

A great variety of software companies and programmers in the world comprise a software
industry. Software can be quite a profitable industry: Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft was
the richest person in the world in 2009, largely due to his ownership of a significant number of
shares in Microsoft, the company responsible for Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office software
products - both market leaders in their respective product categories.

Non-profit software organizations include the Free Software Foundation, GNU Project and the
Mozilla Foundation. Software standard organizations like the W3C, IETF develop recommended
software standards such as XML, HTTP and HTML, so that software can interoperate through
these standards.

Other well-known large software companies include Google, IBM, TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL
Technologies, Oracle, Novell, SAP, Symantec, Adobe Systems, Sidetrade and Corel, while small
companies often provide innovation.

See also
Software release life cycle
Independent software vendor
Outline of software
Software asset management
Open-source software

References
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External links
Software (https://curlie.org/Computers/Software) at Curlie

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