Software
Software consists of computer programs that instruct the execution of a computer.[1] Software also includes design documents and specifications.
The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital computers in the mid-20th century. Early programs were written in the
databases
.
Software can generally be categorized into two main types:
- operating systems, which manage hardware resources and provide services for applications
- application software, which performs specific tasks for users
The rise of
Software as a Service (SaaS). In SaaS, applications are hosted by a provider and accessed over the Internet
.
The process of developing software involves several stages. The stages include
security vulnerabilities
can lead to system failures and security breaches. Additionally, legal issues such as software licenses and intellectual property rights play a significant role in the distribution of software products.
History
The first use of the word software is credited to mathematician
John Wilder Tukey in 1958.[3]
The first programmable computers, which appeared at the end of the 1940s,hid the details of the hardware and expressed the underlying algorithms into the code .[7][8] Early languages include Fortran, Lisp, and COBOL.[8]
Types
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There are two main types of software:
- Operating systems are "the layer of software that manages a computer's resources for its users and their applications".[9] There are three main purposes that an operating system fulfills:[10]
- Allocating resources between different applications, deciding when they will receive central processing unit (CPU) time or space in memory.[10]
- Providing an interface that abstracts the details of accessing hardware details (like physical memory) to make things easier for programmers.[10][11]
- Offering common services, such as an interface for accessing network and disk devices. This enables an application to be run on different hardware without needing to be rewritten.[12]
- Application software runs on top of the operating system and uses the computer's resources to perform a task.[13] There are many different types of application software because the range of tasks that can be performed with modern computers is so large.[14] Applications account for most software[15] and require the environment provided by an operating system, and often other applications, in order to function.[16]
Software can also be categorized by how it is
subscription fee.[17] By 2023, SaaS products—which are usually delivered via a web application—had become the primary method that companies deliver applications.[20]
Software development and maintenance
software development life cycle
from 1988. The numbers represent the typical cost of each phase.Software companies aim to deliver a high-quality product on time and under budget. A challenge is that
software development methodologies, which vary from completing all steps in order to concurrent and iterative models.[30] Software development is driven by requirements taken from prospective users, as opposed to maintenance, which is driven by events such as a change request.[31]
Frequently, software is
legacy software and can remain in use for decades, even if there is no one left who knows how to fix it.[35] Over the lifetime of the product, software maintenance is estimated to comprise 75 percent or more of the total development cost.[36][37]
Completing a software project involves various forms of expertise, not just in
software programmers but also testing, documentation writing, project management, graphic design, user experience, user support, marketing, and fundraising.[38][39][23]
Quality and security
Software quality is defined as meeting the stated requirements as well as customer expectations.[40] Quality is an overarching term that can refer to a code's correct and efficient behavior, its reusability and portability, or the ease of modification.[41] It is usually more cost-effective to build quality into the product from the beginning rather than try to add it later in the development process.[42] Higher quality code will reduce lifetime cost to both suppliers and customers as it is more reliable and easier to maintain.[43][44] Software failures in safety-critical systems can be very serious including death.[43] By some estimates, the cost of poor quality software can be as high as 20 to 40 percent of sales.[45] Despite developers' goal of delivering a product that works entirely as intended, virtually all software contains bugs.[46]
The rise of the Internet also greatly increased the need for
denial of service attacks that compromise a system's availability, others allow the attacker to inject and run their own code (called malware), without the user being aware of it.[49] To thwart cyberattacks, all software in the system must be designed to withstand and recover from external attack.[48] Despite efforts to ensure security, a significant fraction of computers are infected with malware.[53]
Encoding and execution
Programming languages
compiled and run, it will give the output "Hello, world!
".Programming languages are the format in which software is written. Since the 1950s, thousands of different programming languages have been invented; some have been in use for decades, while others have fallen into disuse.
Compilation, interpretation, and execution
The invention of high-level programming languages was simultaneous with the
libraries. Part of the compiler's function is to link these files in such a way that the program can be executed by the hardware. Once compiled, the program can be saved as an object file and the loader (part of the operating system) can take this saved file and execute it as a process on the computer hardware.[59] Some programming languages use an interpreter instead of a compiler. An interpreter converts the program into machine code at run time, which makes them 10 to 100 times slower than compiled programming languages.[60][61]
Legal issues
Liability
Software is often released with the knowledge that it is incomplete or contains bugs. Purchasers knowingly buy it in this state, which has led to a legal regime where liability for software products is significantly curtailed compared to other products.[62]
Licenses
Source code is protected by
Open-source licenses, in contrast, allow free use and redistribution of software with few conditions.[64] Most open-source licenses used for software require that modifications be released under the same license, which can create complications when open-source software is reused in proprietary projects.[66]
Patents
copyright law. 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.[68] Software patents have been historically controversial. Before the 1998 case State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Financial Group, Inc., software patents were generally not recognized in the United States. In that case, the Supreme Court decided that business processes could be patented.[69] Patent applications are complex and costly, and lawsuits involving patents can drive up the cost of products.[70] Unlike copyrights, patents generally only apply in the jurisdiction where they were issued.[71]
Impact
Engineer
web search.[76] Most creative professionals have switched to software-based tools such as computer-aided design, 3D modeling, digital image editing, and computer animation.[72] Almost every complex device is controlled by software.[76]
References
- ISBN 0-619-06489-7.
Software consists of computer programs that govern the operation of the computer.
- ^ Jones 2014, pp. 19, 22.
- ^ Tracy 2021, p. 2.
- ^ Gabbrielli & Martini 2023, p. 519.
- ^ Gabbrielli & Martini 2023, pp. 520–521.
- ^ Gabbrielli & Martini 2023, p. 522.
- ^ Gabbrielli & Martini 2023, p. 521.
- ^ a b Tracy 2021, p. 1.
- ^ Anderson & Dahlin 2014, p. 6.
- ^ a b c Anderson & Dahlin 2014, p. 7.
- ^ Tanenbaum & Bos 2023, p. 5.
- ^ Anderson & Dahlin 2014, pp. 7, 9, 13.
- ^ Anderson & Dahlin 2014, pp. 6–7.
- ^ Jones 2014, p. 121.
- ^ Tracy 2021, p. 66.
- ^ Tracy 2021, p. 72.
- ^ a b O'Regan 2022, p. 386.
- ^ Campbell-Kelly & Garcia-Swartz 2015, pp. 156–157.
- ^ Rosati & Lynn 2020, p. 23.
- ^ Watt 2023, p. 4.
- ^ O'Regan 2022, p. 7.
- ^ O'Regan 2022, p. 5.
- ^ a b Dooley 2017, p. 1.
- ^ O'Regan 2022, pp. 18, 110–111.
- ^ Tracy 2021, pp. 43, 76.
- ^ O'Regan 2022, pp. 117–118.
- ^ O'Regan 2022, p. 54.
- ^ O'Regan 2022, p. 267.
- ^ O'Regan 2022, p. 20.
- ^ O'Regan 2022, p. 9.
- ^ Tripathy & Naik 2014, p. 26.
- ^ Reifer 2012, p. 22.
- ^ Tripathy & Naik 2014, pp. 4, 27.
- ^ Tripathy & Naik 2014, p. 89.
- ^ Tracy 2021, p. 3.
- ^ Varga 2018, p. 6.
- ^ Ulziit et al. 2015, p. 764.
- ^ Tucker, Morelli & de Silva 2011, p. 7.
- ^ Stull 2018, pp. 24–25.
- ^ Galin 2018, p. 3.
- ^ Galin 2018, p. 26.
- ^ O'Regan 2022, pp. 68, 117.
- ^ a b O'Regan 2022, pp. 3, 268.
- ^ Varga 2018, p. 12.
- ^ O'Regan 2022, p. 119.
- ^ Ablon & Bogart 2017, p. 1.
- ^ Campbell-Kelly & Garcia-Swartz 2015, p. 164.
- ^ a b O'Regan 2022, p. 266.
- ^ a b c Ablon & Bogart 2017, p. 2.
- ^ Daswani & Elbayadi 2021, p. 25.
- ^ Daswani & Elbayadi 2021, pp. 26–27.
- ^ Haber & Hibbert 2018, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Kitchin & Dodge 2011, p. 37.
- ^ Tracy 2021, p. 117.
- ^ Tracy 2021, pp. 118–120.
- ^ Tracy 2021, pp. 118–119.
- ^ Kitchin & Dodge 2011, p. 26.
- ^ Tracy 2021, p. 121.
- ^ Tracy 2021, pp. 122–123.
- ^ O'Regan 2022, p. 375.
- ^ Sebesta 2012, p. 28.
- ^ Kitchin & Dodge 2011, pp. 36–37.
- ^ O'Regan 2022, pp. 394–396.
- ^ a b O'Regan 2022, p. 403.
- ^ O'Regan 2022, pp. 394, 404.
- ^ Langer 2016, pp. 44–45.
- ^ O'Regan 2022, p. 395.
- ^ Gerardo Con Díaz, "The Text in the Machine: American Copyright Law and the Many Natures of Software, 1974–1978", Technology and Culture 57 (October 2016), 753–79.
- ^ Jones 2014, p. 19.
- ^ O'Regan 2022, p. 398.
- ^ O'Regan 2022, p. 399.
- ^ a b Manovich 2013, p. 333.
- ^ Jones 2014, p. 32.
- ^ Kitchin & Dodge 2011, p. iv.
- ^ a b Kitchin & Dodge 2011, p. 5.
- ^ a b c Jones 2014, p. xxviii.
- ^ Manovich 2013, p. 329.
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