Why do they call it software?
The path to the origin of the word Software to describe computer programs started in the late 1940s when the term “Hardware” was first used to refer to the tangible components of computers. These computers systems needed to be instructed on what to do, so engineers had to enter sets of instructions into the computers.
These instructions directed the computer’s hardware to perform tasks. This is what is referred to as programming in today’s terms.
The programming was vital to the overall functionality of the computers. This meant that a functional computer consisted of the hardware as well as the programed instructions. These are two completely different mechanisms, yet both were crucial to the overall performance of the device.
The word Software first emerged in the 1950s to describe the sets of instructions that were needed by the hardware to perform its function.
Because the tangible parts of computers were referred to as Hardware, the term Software emerged to describe the intangible, which were the programming of the computers. Software is therefor called software due to the contrast between the meanings of the word hard and the word soft. This provided a clear and contrasting distinction between the two “components” that were vital to the overall functionality of a computer.
So the term “Software” emerged to emphasize the difference between the computer (Hardware) and its programming (Software).
Software is not part of the hardware of a computer, and neither is hardware part of the software. They are opposites that work together, so having opposite names seems appropriate.
Who used the term software first?
History is not clear on who exactly first came up with the word.
Keep in mind that in the early years of computers, it was probable that the term started out in informal conversation. For this reason, we may never know who the exact person was who first used this term that is so commonly used today.
These are the most likely persons, based on what we know:
John Wilder Tukey
John Wilder Tukey, who was an American mathematician and statistician, is often credited as the person who coined the term Software. He used the word in his publication “The Teaching of Concrete Mathematics” in 1958. The reason why John Tukey is generally credited as the person who coined the term, is because this was the first time that the word was used in a computing context in print.
Richard R. Carhart
In 1956 Richard R. Carhart used the term Software in the Proceedings of the “Second National Symposium on Quality Control and Reliability in Electronics” held in Washington, D.C. He used the term in a different context, however. The term was not used to describe computer programming but referred to personnel.
Paul Niquette
The Computing pioneer Paul Niquette wrote in his memoir that he coined the term Software in 1953. He stated that at the time it was an informal term that he used in conversation and sometimes in speeches, lectures, and media interviews throughout the fifties.