Computer software (or simply software) is the programs and procedures that enable a computer to perform a specific task, as opposed to the physical components of the system (hardware). This includes application software such as a word processor, which enables a user to perform a task, and system software such as an operating system, which enables other software to run properly, by interfacing with hardware and with other software.

The term "software" was first used in this sense by John W. Tukey in 1957. In computer science and software engineering, computer software is all information processed by computer systems, programs and data. The concept of reading different sequences of instructions into the memory of a device to control computations was invented by Charles Babbage as part of his difference engine. The theory that is the basis for most modern software was first proposed by Alan Turing in his 1935 essay Computable numbers with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem. Hally, Mike (2005:79). Electronic brains/Stories from the dawn of the computer age. British Broadcasting Corporation and Granta Books, London. ISBN 1-86-207663-4.

Relationship to hardware

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Computer software is so called in contrast to computer hardware, which encompasses the physical interconnections and devices required to store and execute (or run) the software. In computers, software is loaded into RAM and executed in the central processing unit. At the lowest level, software consists of a machine language specific to an individual processor. A machine language consists of groups of binary values signifying processor instructions (object code), which change the state of the computer from its preceding state. Software is an ordered sequence of instructions for changing the state of the computer hardware in a particular sequence. It is generally written in high-level programming languages that are easier and more efficient for humans to use (closer to natural language) than machine language. High-level languages are compiled or interpreted into machine language object code. Software may also be written in an assembly language, essentially, a mnemonic representation of a machine language using a natural language alphabet. Assembly language must be assembled into object code via an assembler.

More on [ Computer software ]

UC Davis News: General Interest

UC Davis Experts on Fall Ballot Initiatives
Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700
The following UC Davis faculty are available to comment on Propositions 2, 4, 5, 8 and 11 on California's fall ballot, as well as on the initiative process itself. Propositions and the initiative process Floyd Feeney, the Homer G. and Ann Berryhill Angelo Professor of Law for International Legal and Communication Studies at the UC Davis School of Law, is an expert on the California initiative process. He served as legal adviser to the California Assembly Speaker's Commission on the California Initiative Process in 2000-2001 and is co-author of the 1992 book, "Improving the California Initiative Process: Options for Change." Feeney also specializes in criminal law and procedure. Contact: Floyd Feeney, School of Law, fffeeney@ucdavis.edu, (530) 752-2893. Proposition 2: Animal housing Joy Mench, an animal science professor and director of the UC Davis Center for Animal Welfare, has found that conventional cage systems restrict hens' movement and natural behaviors, but that free-roaming chickens are more likely to fall victim to cannibalism, health problems associated with increased exposure to their manure, and broken bones. She suggests that so-called "furnished" cage systems, which provide areas for nesting, perching and dust-bathing, may be a humane and cost-effective solution. Contact: Joy Mench, Center for Animal Welfare, (530) 752-7125, jamench@ucdavis.edu. Daniel Sumner, the Frank H. Buck Jr. Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics and director of the University of California Agricultural Issues Center, is an expert on California's $337 million egg industry. He is an author of a July report issued by the University of California Agricultural Issues Center, "Economic Effects of Proposed Restrictions on Egg-laying Hen Housing in California," which concluded that Proposition 2 would have the effect of shifting most if not all egg production in California outside the state. The study did not address issues of animal welfare. Contact: Dan Sumner, Agricultural and Resource Economics, (530) 752-1668, dan@primal.ucdavis.edu. Proposition 4: Parental notification and waiting period for minors seeking abortions Diane Marie Amann, professor of law, says that contrary to the assertions of some proponents, Proposition 4 would not help prevent sexual predation. "There is virtually nothing in the text that aims at that goal," she says. Amann is a specialist in constitutional and criminal law. Contact: Diane Marie Amann, (530) 754-9099, dmamann@ucdavis.edu. Lisa Ikemoto, professor of law, offers a bioethicist's perspective on the debate over Proposition 4. Her scholarship and teaching focus on the regulation of fertility and pregnancy, reproductive justice, health care disparities related to gender and race, and the role of racism in the use of public health powers. Her many articles include "In the Shadows: Women of Color in Health Disparities Policy Work" (UC Davis Law Review, 2006), "Doctrine at the Gate: Religious Restrictions in Health Care," (Journal of Gender Specific Medicine, 2001) and "The Code of Perfect Pregnancy: At the Intersection of the Ideology of Motherhood, the Practice of Defaulting to Science, and the Interventionist Mindset of Law," (Ohio State Law Journal, 1992). Contact: Lisa Ikemoto, School of Law, (530) 754-6463, lcikemoto@ucdavis.edu. Carole Joffe, professor of sociology, is a leading scholar of abortion politics. She argues that most teenagers already talk with their parents about their abortion plans, and that parental notification laws are not the answer for those teens who do not tell their parents about a pregnancy out of fear of violence or of being kicked out of the home. Joffe is the author of the 1995 book, "Doctors of Conscience: The Struggle to Provide Abortion before and after Roe v. Wade," a chapter in the 1998 book, "The Fifty Years War: Abortion Politics in the United States, 1950-2000," and "The Religious Right and the Reshaping of Sexual Policy," published in the March 2007 issue of Sexuality Research & Social Policy. She blogs on reproductive health at http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/966. Contact: Carole Joffe, Sociology, (530) 752-9108, cejoffe@ucdavis.edu. Proposition 5: Nonviolent offender rehabilitation Ryken Grattet, associate professor of sociology, has done extensive research on parole violations and revocations in California and can talk about Proposition 5's potential impacts on nonviolent offender rehabilitation. Grattet is a co-author of the 2008 report, "Parole Violations and Revocations in California," funded by the National Institute of Justice. From 2005 to 2006, he took academic leave to serve as acting secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's Office of Research. He has also published on the causes and consequences of parole violations, characteristics of female offenders, and legislative and judicial responses to hate crimes. He is a 2002 recipient of the Society for the Study of Social Problems' Award for Outstanding Scholarship. Contact: Ryken Grattet, Sociology, (530) 754-6137, rtgrattet@ucdavis.edu. Proposition 8: Gay marriage Vikram Amar, professor and associate dean of the UC Davis School of Law, argues that the power of the people of California to undo a California Supreme Court ruling, as Proposition 8 aims to do, has troubling implications for minority rights in arenas other than gay marriage. Amar writes, teaches and consults in constitutional law, civil procedure and remedies. He is a co-author of the 2005 book "Constitutional Law: Cases and Materials" and has published in a variety of journals, including the Yale Law Journal, the Stanford Law Review and the Cornell Law Review. He authors a bi-weekly column on constitutional matters for http://findlaw.com/. Contact: Vik Amar, School of Law, (530) 752-8808, (925) 858-8855 (cell), vdamar@ucdavis.edu. Alan Brownstein, the Boochever and Bird Endowed Chair for the Study and Teaching of Freedom and Equality at the UC Davis School of Law, argues that protecting the right of gay men and lesbians to marry may help to reaffirm and reinforce religious freedom in our legal system. Brownstein is a nationally recognized expert on church-state issues, freedom of speech, privacy and autonomy rights, and other constitutional law subjects. His articles have been published in numerous academic journals including the Stanford Law Review, Cornell Law Review, UCLA Law Review and Constitutional Commentary. He is the editor of "The Establishment of Religion Clause: Its Constitutional History and the Contemporary Debate," the first volume of a series of anthologies on the Bill of Rights published by Prometheus Books. Contact: Alan Brownstein, School of Law, (530) 752-2586, aebrownstein@ucdavis.edu. Gregory Herek, professor of psychology, was one of the authors of an amicus curiae brief submitted by the American Psychological Association and other leading mental health organizations to the California Supreme Court for its consideration in Lockyer v. City and County of San Francisco, the gay marriage case decided May 15. The brief, cited in footnote 59 of the court's decision, states that "... sexual orientation is integrally linked to the intimate personal relationships that human beings form with others to meet their deeply felt needs for love, attachment, and intimacy." Herek is the author of the book, "Hate Crimes: Confronting Violence Against Lesbians and Gay Men." He was awarded the 1996 American Psychological Association's Early Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology and the Public Interest. He blogs at http://www.beyondhomophobia.com/blog. Contact: Greg Herek, Psychology, (530) 752-8085, gmherek@ucdavis.edu. Courtney Joslin, professor of law, served as an attorney at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, where she litigated cases on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their families. She is a past executive editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. Her areas of interest include family and relationship recognition, particularly focusing on same-sex and unmarried couples. Contact: Courtney Joslin, School of Law, (415) 902-7981 (cell), cgjoslin@ucdavis.edu. Proposition 11: Redistricting "Proposition 11 is a cure that cannot work to a problem that does not exist," argues Anthony E. Chavez, a clinical professor of law. Chavez says that the measure would create an unrepresentative and unaccountable redistricting commission that, perhaps unintentionally, would ultimately shift mapmaking control to Republicans. Chavez is a former voting rights attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice and served as the director of voting rights litigation for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. He received a Special Achievement Award from the U.S. Department of Justice for his work in the Civil Rights Division's Voting Section and was invited by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to serve on an advisory committee to help reduce the minority undercount for the 2000 Census. He has testified regarding voting rights or census issues before the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee and the California Assembly. Contact: Anthony E. Chavez, School of Law, (530) 754-8148, aechavez@ucdavis.edu. Chris Elmendorf, professor of law, can talk about Proposition 11's potential for electoral reform. Elmendorf's teaching and research interests include election law, administrative law, constitutional law, and property and natural resources law. His recent writings have focused on judicial formulation and administration of doctrines to implement the fundamental right to vote. His work has been published in the New York University Law Review, the Duke Law Journal and the Election Law Journal, among other journals. Contact: Chris Elmendorf, School of Law, (530) 752-5756, cselmendorf@ucdavis.edu.
Public Lecture: The Individual or the Group
Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700
Oct. 21, Tuesday -- Physicist, pacifist and independent thinker Freeman Dyson will give a free, public lecture, "The Individual or the Group?" at 7 p.m. in the AGR room of the Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center on the UC Davis campus. Dyson will discuss how his thinking on this basic question, which is at the root of our ethics, laws and politics, has been influenced by scholars in the humanities, law and evolutionary biology. Dyson has written several popular books about science and the future of mankind, including "Disturbing the Universe," "Weapons and Hope," "Origins of Life," "Infinite in All Directions," "Imagined Worlds," and "The Sun, the Genome and the Internet." He is currently professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University. He has received numerous awards, including the Lewis Thomas Prize in 1996, honoring the Scientist as Poet. In 2000, he received the $1 million Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion from the Templeton Foundation. Dyson's visit to UC Davis is part of the Department of Physics' Centennial Speaker Series, supported by contributions from members of the department, by the Office of the Chancellor and Provost and by the dean of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.
Risque Subjects and Risky Politics
Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700
Oct. 14, Tuesday -- Back before the Internet, how did an ordinary person learn about risque subjects and risky politics? Through "little blue books," published for a nickel apiece, which sold hundreds of thousands of copies a year through much of the 20th century. Essayist, critic and blogger Scott McLemee will talk about the blue books, how ideas get out and how idea-peddlers make money from people's desire to learn on Tuesday, Oct. 14, at Bistro 33, 226 F St., Davis. His talk, "Sex, Socialism and Self-Education," will begin at 5:30 p.m. followed by a reception at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. McLemee has been a maverick voice on culture and politics for more than a decade. A former contributing editor for Lingua Franca and senior writer at the Chronicle of Higher Education, in 2005 he helped start the online news journal Inside Higher Ed, where he serves as essayist at large, writing a weekly column called Intellectual Affairs. He also blogs at the online arts journal Quick Study. He is a winner of the National Book Critics Circle award for excellence in reviewing. The talk is part of the Public Intellectuals Forum, a series of public lectures sponsored by the UC Davis Humanities Institute and UC Davis Center for History, Society and Culture. For more information, contact Jennifer Langdon at (530) 754-0331 or visit http://dhi.ucdavis.edu/?page_id=651.

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