This article has been taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software
An 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.[4] She created proofs to show how the engine would calculate Bernoulli numbers.[4] Because of the proofs and the algorithm, she is considered the first computer programmer.[5][6]
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).[citation needed] This eventually led to the creation of the academic fields of computer science and software engineering; both fields study software and its creation.[citation needed] 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 principles to development of software.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
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"[7][8] 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.[9] This led many to credit Tukey with coining the term, particularly in obituaries published that same year,[10] 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.[11] 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.[12]
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:
- Application software uses the computer system to perform special 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.
- System software manages 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,[13] and it includes the following:
- Operating systems 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 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 are computer programs designed to assist users in the maintenance and care of their computers.
- Malicious software, or malware, is software that is developed to harm or disrupt computers. 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").[citation needed]
- 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.[citation needed]
- 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.[citation needed]
- 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.[citation needed]
- 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).[14] 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).[citation needed]
- 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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
Programming tools
Programming tools are also software in the form of programs or applications that developers use to create, debug, maintain, or otherwise support software.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed] IDEs may do this by either invoking the relevant individual tools or by re-implementing their functionality in a new way.[citation needed] An IDE can make it easier to do specific tasks, such as searching in files in a particular project.[citation needed] Many programming language implementations provide the option of using both individual tools or an IDE.[citation needed]
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