Michael Poole <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > After seeing this claim made quite a few times on various Debian > lists, I was curious about the history for the claim above. The > earliest common attribution of "software" that I could find in a > computer context is to John Stukey: > > Today the "software" comprising the carefully planned interpretive > routines, compilers, and other aspects of automative programming > are at least as important to the modern electronic calculator as > its "hardware" of tubes, transistors, wires, tapes and the like. > [ from http://www.maa.org/mathland/mathtrek_7_31_00.html ] > > Note the "carefully planned _interpretive_ (etc)" and "aspects of > automative programming" parts of Tukey's definition.
I would argue that is not evidence either for or against the use of "software" to mean "digitally-represented information"; it clearly addresses a system where the *only* information represented digitally is the program, and doesn't have an answer for what happens in a system that is capable of storing more than just the program. This isn't a strong argument, I admit. -- \ "I went to a general store. They wouldn't let me buy anything | `\ specifically." -- Steven Wright | _o__) | Ben Finney -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
