software

[sawft-wair, soft-] /ˈsɔftˌwɛər, ˈsɒft-/

noun

Computers. the programs used to direct the operation of a computer, as well as documentation giving instructions on how to use them.

Compare hardware (def 5).

anything that is not hardware but is used with hardware, especially audiovisual materials, as film, tapes, records, etc.:

a studio fully equipped but lacking software.

Television Slang. prepackaged materials, as movies or reruns, used to fill out the major part of a station's program schedule.

Origin

1955-60; soft + ware¹

Examples from the web for software

Now computer programmers are harnessing software versions of these same processes to achieve machine intelligence.
But the bad guy's software can quickly make and then try all possible keys for a specific computer.
Computer game companies use increasingly complicated software to protect against piracy.
Here are a few favorite websites with great accessible ideas, as well as a crafty software program we've been using for years.
To download software, click the program's download link.
He would conduct business on the basketball court, he decided, the same way he conducted business at his software firm.
The ethos of software idealists has always been something of the opposite.
In the nineteen-seventies, he wrote one of the first software programs to identify profitable trades.
The faces of literary characters as pictured by police composite-sketch software.
Corporations are once more spending money on software and machinery.

British Dictionary definitions for software

software

/ˈsɒftˌwɛə/

noun

(computing) the programs that can be used with a particular computer system Compare hardware (sense 2)

video cassettes and discs for use with a particular video system

Word Origin and History for software

1851, soft wares, "woolen or cotton fabrics," also, "relatively perishable consumer goods," from soft + ware (n.). The computer sense is a separate coinage from 1960, based on hardware.

software in Science

software

(sôft'wâr')
The programs, programming languages, and data that direct the operations of a computer system. Word processing programs and Internet browsers are examples of software. Compare hardware.

software in Culture

software definition

The programs and instructions that run a computer, as opposed to the actual physical machinery and devices that compose the hardware.

software in Technology

programming
(Or "computer program", "program", "code") The instructions executed by a computer, as opposed to the physical device on which they run (the "hardware").
The term was coined by the eminent statistician, John Tukey.
Programs stored on non-volatile storage built from integrated circuits (e.g. ROM or PROM) are usually called firmware.
Software can be split into two main types - system software and application software or application programs. System software is any software required to support the production or execution of application programs but which is not specific to any particular application. Examples of system software would include the operating system, compilers, editors and sorting programs.
Examples of application programs would include an accounts package or a CAD program. Other broad classes of application software include real-time software, business software, scientific and engineering software, embedded software, personal computer software and artificial intelligence software.
Software includes both source code written by humans and executable machine code produced by assemblers or compilers. It does not usually include the data processed by programs unless this is in a format such as multimedia which depends on the use of computers for its presentation. This distinction becomes unclear in cases such as spread sheets which can contain both instructions (formulae and macros) and data. There are also various intermediate compiled or semi-compiled, forms of software such as library files and byte-code.
Some claim that documentation (both paper and electronic) is also software. Others go further and define software to be programs plus documentation though this does not correspond with common usage.
The noun "program" describes a single, complete and more-or-less self-contained list of instructions, often stored in a single file, whereas "code" and "software" are uncountable nouns describing some number of instructions which may constitute one or more programs or part thereof. Most programs, however, rely heavily on various kinds of operating system software for their execution. The nounds "code" and "software" both refer to the same thing but "code" tends to suggest an interest in the implementation details whereas "software" is more of a user's term.
(2002-07-21)