| Containership Property of Space Space structure: 4 dimensional (the presence of matter established time, the 4th dimension) Space Capacity: limited, software resides in machines or devices known as hardware Boundary Condition: bounded Internal Risk: bugs-programming errors External Risk: hackers' viruses Purpose: to make the hardware that contain them perform tasks. Identity : software or computer programs Software is the name given to instructions that enable machines to perform tasks. Although any machine can be programmed to perform tasks, those usually associated with software are the electronic machines commonly known as computers. A task may be simple or complex. Usually, a complex task is a composite of tasks. The succesful completion of a task, requires definable and logically connected steps. In other words, an algorithm which is defined as the steps required to arrive at the solution to a problem. In essence, a complex software is a set of algorithms. One of the fundamental concepts in the software space has to do with human-machine communication . In other words, how should the instructions be written so that they are machine readable and efficiently executed? |
| The answer to this question has not been static. It has been dynamic and evolutionary. Its evolution has been very much
a function of the evolution of the machines which the instructions direct. Two important derivatives from this evolution are high-level programming languages
and a refined computer architecture The earliest computer software were written in the bitish language of the computer. The alphabet of the bitish language are bits . A group of 8 bits called a byte, is used to represent a letter, a number, or a symbol then 2, 4, 8 or 16 bytes are used to represent a computer word, depending on the architecture of the circuitry of the computer. The computer circuitry is based on the fundamental concept of whether or not current is flowing through a transistor. The transistor is on when current is flowing through it and off otherwise. A complex vast array of transistors and other microelectronic components on semiconductors such as silicon and germanium wafers, make up the computer circuitry commonly known as the integrated circuit or chip. The bit 1 represents an on state. It can also represent a yes, or a true state in the Boolean Truth Table (a logic table based on Boolean Algebra). The bit 0 represents an off state. It can also represent a no or a false state in the Boolean Truth Table. Bits were derived from the binary digits 0 and 1 of the Binary Number System. |
| Writing software in bits and bytes (machine level programming), is a tedious endeavor. So, it is not
suprising that programming languages eventually evolved into a more human friendly structure (higher-level programming). One of the trade-offs associated with the change from low-level programming to mostly high-level programming is speed. Software written in machine language, or in programming languages such as the Assembly Language or C/C++ which have machine language features and capabilities, are faster. Consequently, operating systems or system software whose principal task is to interact with the hardware, are written in these languages. Another trade-off has to do with the fact that software written in high-level programming languages have to be converted to bits and bytes before the computer can execute them. This conversion is carried out by computer programs known as compilers and interpreters. A compiler collects the source code (program written in high-level language), organizes and translates them into an object code (machine code). An interpreter translates and executes the source code line by line. If the object code is not in machine code after compilation, computer programs known as assemblers, binders, linkers and loaders finish the translation. |
| Forces
Human Intelligence: software and the logical gates (AND, NAND, OR, NOR, etc) of the computer circuitry are products of the human mind. Electromotive Force: the foce behind the current runing through the computer circuitry. Motion An overview of computer architecture is necessary in order to understand the movements of software in the software space. Manufacturers of computers have some flexibility in the design of their respective computers. Consequently, there is no singular architectural design. Nonetheless, they all have a common fundamental objective: the computers must be able to perform the tasks they are instructed to perform by the software in them. This commonality allows one to intuitively realize that while computer architecture may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, there are key functional units that are present in almost all computers. The fundamental functions the units must attend to are: initialization, input, storage, processing, control/coordination and output. Initialization: a power supply is a prerequisite unit for the initialization process. Immediately after a user turns on the computer, a series of events begin. This process is known as Power-On-Self-Test (POST) and informally as bootstrapping in computer terminology. Input: instructions and data needed in the computer are put into it through input units. The keyboard, the mouse, the optic pen and joystick are input units. So are the disk drive, floppy drive and cd-rom drive . |
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| Let us use our environment respectfully so that future generations would not label us"prodigal ancestors" |
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