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Software

Computers make up a big part of many people’s lives, but a lot of the terminology can seem daunting. One term that people might find hard to define, yet use it all the time is ‘software’, which is basically any computer programme (or document or procedure etc) that carries out a certain task on a system such as a computer. As well as the personal computer in our home, people use software on many other devices such as mobile phones and so forth.

Examples of software could include anything from video and audio editing programmes, word processors, video games, media (music, film etc) players, art and design programmes and anything that allows you to carry out a particular task on your operating system. We use software whenever we use a computer for a particular purpose, meaning it is something that plays a big part in the world we live in, for without it computers would be obsolete machines incapable of carrying out everyday tasks.

It is of course distinct from hardware, which refers to more physical elements that make up a computer such as speakers or a mouse.