Software Definition and 996 Threads

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 preceding state. For example, an instruction may change the value stored in a particular storage location in the computer—an effect that is not directly observable to the user. An instruction may also invoke one of many input or output operations, for example displaying some text on a computer screen; causing state changes which should be visible to the user. The processor executes the instructions in the order they are provided, unless it is instructed to "jump" to a different instruction, or is interrupted by the operating system. As of 2015, most personal computers, smartphone devices and servers 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. 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.

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  1. ramzerimar

    Programs Switching major to EE: is this a good move?

    I'm currently enrolled in a MechE course, at my third year, and it took a long time to discover that this is not the major for me. In my spare time, I've been learning electronics (Arduino) and programming, and I decided that I like this stuff better than my MechE classes. Most of my interest...
  2. S

    What is the best software for the analysis of chaos in electric circuits?

    What is the best software for the analysis of chaos in electric circuits.
  3. Arman777

    Using Best drone and Software to count wild animals

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  4. ramzerimar

    Engineering Is a Career in Software an Option for Mechanical Engineers?

    I'm at the third year of my MechE course, and in those three years I've developed a keen interest in software/coding. I still like my degree, things like fluid dynamics/aerodynamics fascinate me, but more and more I see myself working with software and coding. One of the things that I like about...
  5. Technik

    Engineering Software Engineering and Astronomy/Physics

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  6. S

    Which Software is Best for Drawing Simple Engineering Models?

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  7. C

    I Software for calculating Feynman diagrams

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  8. E

    What is the Software that has this Plotting Style?

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  9. J

    Software for Drawing biological processes & systems

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  10. J

    Any good software for drawing control systems/flow charts out there?

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  11. pairofstrings

    Job Skills Becoming Part of the AI Revolution: Skilling Up for the Future

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  12. G

    Software to simulate an atom and chemical reactions?

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  13. K

    What Software do you use to do your math manipulations?

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  14. sammy g

    I Best shape for photon tracking software

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  15. dkotschessaa

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  16. Robert House

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  17. Shubham Jaydeokar

    A Space Radio Software: Get Help from Experts Now!

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  18. M

    AutoCAD inventor as CFD software

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  19. BL4CKB0X97

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  20. DaveC426913

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  21. D

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  22. S

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  23. M

    B Visualizing GR Geometry: Software for Einstein Field Equations

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  24. A

    Software for laser simulations

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  25. B

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  26. B

    AC current / circuit simulation software

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  27. T

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  28. R

    Programatically measure air pressure within a piston

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  29. R

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  31. Junaid Shahid

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  32. Averagesupernova

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  33. Kaura

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  34. O

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  35. I

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  36. B

    I need a single-frame NTSC decoder software

    I found this thread https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/software-ntsc-decoding.47403/ , where somebody had a similar requirement, but it's old and locked so I can't post in it. However I really need such software decoder (one that has been verified by engineers intimately familiar with the...
  37. B

    VMINTEQ 3.1: How to add OH- species?

    I'm using the free version of VMINTEQ 3.1 and I want to simulate titration with NaOH as the titrant, but I could not find OH- on the list. Can anyone teach me how? Thanks!
  38. H

    Looking for software to simulate gas sensor mechanism

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  39. F

    Software to model magnetic fields in a core

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  40. M

    MHB Software for fredholm determinant

    Hi there, There are a few ways you could approach this problem. One option is to use the built-in functions in Matlab or Mathematica for solving linear algebra problems. Both programs have functions for calculating eigenvalues and solving linear systems of equations. Another option is to write...
  41. H

    B Software for quantum calculations?

    is there any decent free simulators or software for doing the massive integrals involved with square of wave functions, the area under the square of them. transition probabilities, average position etc for systems more complex than a particle in a box.
  42. A

    Calculators Software to do latent semantic analysis

    I have a document-word matrix and I need to do latent semantic analysis to match a query document with a set of key-words to the best possible match among other documents in the matrix. The matrix is in the form of documents-words occurrence array of 1 and 0 input. What is the best software I...
  43. A

    Cheap or free statistics software to do the basic stuff

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  44. S

    What software do you use in your field of study?

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  45. Eagle9

    Seeking free software for animal behavior tracking

    Good day guys :smile: I need to conduct the behavioral tests on rats. I need some free program for social behavior; the program should be able to track two rats simultaneously, their movement trajectories and time spent by these animals when they are close or far to each other (and to analyse...
  46. Zaent

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    What I mean by this is that I'm looking to see if there's any sort of software out there that has formulae that it "knows" and can reduce/expand back and forth for you. A simple example would be that I type "I*R" and it gets simplified to "V" using this software, or vice versa. I understand...
  47. J

    Engineering How can a junior physics major prepare for software jobs

    I’m currently a third year physics major who has realized that grad school probably isn’t the right path, as I’ve become anxious to finish school and start doing something more productive. I want to know what I should be doing now in order to be a good candidate for software engineering jobs...
  48. Firedog89

    Programs Software Engineering or Computer Science degree?

    I wanted to know which one was better for finding jobs and salary wise or are both pretty much the same. Computer Science or Software Engineering degree? Also would anyone recommend getting the degree online?
  49. Avatrin

    Math Applications of discrete mathematics minus software

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  50. M

    Engineering Hardware vs. Software in biomedical engineering?

    For someone with a bachelors in computer engineering, looking to go to grad school for biomedical engineering, which would be more useful, their knowledge of software, or their knowledge of hardware?
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