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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
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 ]
Software :: Products and Services
Presentation :: Software
Software :: Science
Causal and Statistical Reasoning - Software and information for exploring perceptions of causality.
COGENT - A graphical environment for cognitive modeling. Free for the moment, and available for PC and Unix. Developed by Rick Cooper, John Fox and others.
Meta Description: [ COGENT: A Cognitive modelling system. ]
Life Science Associates - Publisher of psychology software offering programs for cognitive rehabilitation.
Meta Description: [ Life Science Associates is a leading publisher of Psychology software. Since 1981 we have offered instructional programs in Psychology at the college level and rehabilitation / assessment programs for cognitive rehabilitation. Additionally we provide the Elemental Driving Simulator. ]
MLPest, PsychoFit, etc. - Free software (Win/Mac) for analyzing psychophyisical data. By Lewis O. Harvey, Jr.
Psychophysics Toolbox - Software allows the use of Matlab to do vision research.
Meta Description: [ The Psychophysics Toolbox is a free set of Matlab functions for doing vision research on Macintosh and Windows computers (Brainard, 1997; Pelli, 1997). ]
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TarrLab Stimuli - Collections of pictures of familiar and novel objects, faces and geons.
Meta Description: [ The beta test site for a new version of the tarrlab web pages ]
VIAT - A Windows program for demonstrating visual-attention phenomena (freeware)
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