Definition of "software"

software

/ˈsɒf(t)ˌwɛə/

noun
uncountable
1. (computing) Encoded computer instructions, usually modifiable (unless stored in some form of unalterable memory such as ROM).
  Quotations
  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.
  1958, John W. Tukey, "The Teaching of Concrete Mathematics" in The American Mathematical Monthly, vol. 65, no. 1 (Jan. 1958), pp 1-9
  As originally conceived, the word "software" was merely an obvious way to distinguish a program from the computer itself. A program comprised sequences of changeable instructions each having the power to command the behavior of the permanently crafted machinery, the "hardware."
  1995, Paul Niquette, Softword: Provenance for the Word ‘Software’
2. (military) The human beings involved in warfare, as opposed to hardware such as weapons and vehicles.
  Quotations
  The Americans have devoted their attention to the hardware of disarmament: Europeans can make a special contribution to the 'software' or human content of detente.
  1989, Christopher Layton, A Step Beyond Fear: Building a European Security Community
  […] preview of horrific images to come, as the hardware stage of the war yields to the software — or human — stage.
  1991, New York Magazine, volume 24, number 5, page 33