drummyfish/less_retarded_wiki
5
1
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull requests Projects Releases Packages Wiki Activity

Update

Browse source
This commit is contained in:
Miloslav Ciz 2025-04-14 21:57:02 +02:00
parent 5604db85d2
commit d8f1711fa8
33 changed files with 2096 additions and 2036 deletions
Download patch file Download diff file Expand all files Collapse all files

4
sw.md
View file

@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
# Software
Software (SW) are [programs](program.md) running on a [computer](computer.md), i.e. its non-physical parts (as opposed to [hardware](hw.md)); for example an [operating system](os.md), the Internet [browser](browser.md), [games](game.md) etc. Software is created by the act of [programming](programming.md) (and related activities such as [software engineering](sw_engineering.md) etc.).
Software (SW) are [programs](program.md) running on a [computer](computer.md), i.e. its non-physical parts (as opposed to [hardware](hw.md)); for example an [operating system](os.md), the [Internet](internet.md) [browser](browser.md), [games](game.md) etc. Software is created by the act of [programming](programming.md) (and related activities such as [software engineering](sw_engineering.md) etc.).
Usually we can pretty clearly say what is software vs what is hardware, however there are also edge cases where it's debatable. Normally software is that about the computer which *can relatively easily be changed* (i.e. reinstalled by a typing a few commands or clicking a few buttons) while hardware is [hard-wired](hard_wired.md), difficult to modify and not expected or designed to be modified. Nonetheless [firmware](firmware.md), for instance, is a kind of software in form of instructions which many times are stored in a special kind of memory that's difficult to be reprogrammed and not expected to be reprogrammed often -- some software may be "burned in" into a circuit so that it could only be changed by physically rewiring the circuit (the [ME](intel_me.md) spyware in [Intel](intel.md) [CPU](cpu.md)s has a built-in [minix](minix.md) operating system). See also [FPGA](fpga.md). There are cases where it may on occasion become difficult to drawn the line and distinguish hardware from software -- the issue was encountered for example by the [FSF](fsf.md) which certifies some hardware powered solely by free software as *Respects Your Freedom* ([RYF](ryf.md)): as part of the certification requirements they define what exactly they mean by "software".
Usually we can pretty decisively tell software ans hardware apart, but still there appear edge cases where it might be debatable. Normally software is that about the computer which *can relatively easily be changed* (i.e. reinstalled by a typing a few commands or clicking a few buttons) while hardware is [hard-wired](hard_wired.md), difficult to modify and not expected or designed to be modified. Nonetheless [firmware](firmware.md), for instance, is a kind of software in form of instructions which many times are stored in a special kind of memory that's difficult to be reprogrammed and not expected to be reprogrammed often -- some software may be "burned in" into a circuit so that it could only be changed by physically rewiring the circuit (the [ME](intel_me.md) spyware in [Intel](intel.md) [CPU](cpu.md)s has a built-in [minix](minix.md) operating system). See also [FPGA](fpga.md). There are cases where it may on occasion become difficult to drawn the line and distinguish hardware from software -- the issue was encountered for example by the [FSF](fsf.md) which certifies some hardware powered solely by free software as *Respects Your Freedom* ([RYF](ryf.md)): as part of the certification requirements they define what exactly they mean by "software".
## See Also