What is Software ?

What is Software ?
A computer program is an example of computer software. Software makes a computer a truly universal machine transforming it into the proper tool for the task at hand. One can refer to a program as a piece of software as if it were a tangible object, but software is actually quite intangible. It is stored on a medium. A hard drive, a CD, a DVD, and a USB pen drive are all examples of media upon which software can reside. The CD is not the software; the software is a pattern on the CD. In order to be used, software must be stored in the computer’s memory. Typically computer programs are loaded into memory from a medium like the computer’s hard disk. An electromagnetic pattern representing the program is stored on the computer’s hard drive. This pattern of electronic symbols must be transferred to the computer’s memory before the program
can be executed. The program may have been installed on the hard disk from a CD or from the Internet. In any case, the essence that was transferred from medium to medium was a pattern of electronic symbols that direct the work of the computer system.

These patterns of electronic symbols are best represented as a sequence of zeroes and ones, digits from the binary (base 2) number system. An example of a binary program sequence is

10001011011000010001000001001110

To the underlying computer hardware, specifically the processor, a zero here and three ones there might mean that certain electrical signals should be sent to the graphics device so that it makes a certain part of the display screen red. Unfortunately, only a minuscule number of people in the world would be able to produce, by hand, the complete sequence of zeroes and ones that represent the program Microsoft Word for an Intel-based computer running the Windows 8 operating system. Further, almost none of those who could produce the binary sequence would claim to enjoy the task. The Word program for older Mac OS X computers using a PowerPC processor works similarly to the Windows version and indeed is produced by the same company, but the program is expressed in a completely different sequence of zeroes and ones! The Intel Core i7 processor in theWindows machine accepts a completely different binary language than the PowerPC processor in the Mac. We say the processors have their own machine language.

Software

Software, simply are the computer programs. The instructions given to the computer in the form of a program is called Software. Software is the set of programs, which are used for different purposes. All the programs used in computer to perform specific task is called Software.