software meaning

• Noun: software  'sóft`wehr
  1. (computer science) written programs or procedures or rules and associated documentation pertaining to the operation of a computer system and that are stored in read/write memory
     "the market for software is expected to expand"
     - software program, computer software, software system, software package, package

  Derived forms: softwares

  Type of: code, computer code

  Antonym: hardware

  Encyclopedia: Software

• 
  [Business]
  AmE / noun [U]

  APPLICATION SOFTWARE, PACKAGED SOFTWARE, THIRD-PARTY SOFTWARE

  (IT )

  the programs, etc. used to operate a computer:

  a marketing-and-sales software package

  Will the software run on my machine?

  designing software applications for business

  ⇨ HARDWARE See note at INFORMATION

  ❖ accounting/business/financial/investment software

  ◆ to design/develop/write software

  ◆ to download/install/load/run/use (a piece of) software

  ◆ a software company/developer/firm

• 
  [Electronics]
  1. Vendor-supplied or user-generated programs or groups of programs for a computer
  or computer system.
  2. The detailed instructions for performing a particular operation with a calculator or a computer.
  
• 
  [Law]
  n. Computer programs, which are protected by copyright under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. EU Directive 91/250on the legal protection of computer programs provides that all member states must protect computer programs by copyright law. The directive also provides a right to make back-up copies of software and a very limited decompilation right. A right to repair is also included, unless a software licence prohibits this. The UK implemented the directive by the Copyright (Computer Programs) Regulations 1992.

[Medicine]
Sequential operating instructions for a particular problem or function to be run on a digital computer.
• 
  [Computer]
  <programming> (Or "computer program", "program", "code") The instructions executed by a computer, as opposed to the physical device on which they run (the "hardware").
  
  The term was coined by the eminent statistician, John Tukey.
  
  Programs stored on non-volatile storage built from integrated circuits (e.g. ROM or PROM) are usually called firmware.
  
  Software can be split into two main types - system software and application software or application programs. System software is any software required to support the production or execution of application programs but which is not specific to any particular application. Examples of system software would include the operating system, compilers, editors and sorting programs.
  
  Examples of application programs would include an accounts package or a CAD program. Other broad classes of application software include real-time software, business software, scientific and engineering software, embedded software, personal computer software and artificial intelligence software.
  
  Software includes both source code written by humans and executable machine code produced by assemblers or compilers. It does not usually include the data processed by programs unless this is in a format such as multimedia which depends on the use of computers for its presentation. This distinction becomes unclear in cases such as spread sheets which can contain both instructions (formulae and macros) and data. There are also various intermediate compiled or semi-compiled, forms of software such as library files and byte-code.
  
  Some claim that documentation (both paper and electronic) is also software. Others go further and define software to be programs plus documentation though this does not correspond with common usage.
  
  The noun "program" describes a single, complete and more-or-less self-contained list of instructions, often stored in a single file, whereas "code" and "software" are uncountable nouns describing some number of instructions which may constitute one or more programs or part thereof. Most programs, however, rely heavily on various kinds of operating system software for their execution. The nounds "code" and "software" both refer to the same thing but "code" tends to suggest an interest in the implementation details whereas "software" is more of a user's term.

• alpha software:    Noun: alpha softwa ...
• antivirus software:    [Computer]<tool ...
• application software:    , applications pro ...

Examples

1. we deal in hardware but not software.
2. her talk ran on developments in computer software.
3. the software enforcement of priorities has been described above.
4. not everyone enjoys writing the software required for keyboard encoding.
5. future computer development depends in large part upon software.