Software is eating the world. Those of us who work, live and love software do not usually stop by to think about its meaning. This is the first of a series of articles where we will try to address current software design problems in a minimalist way. In university and industry we are taught the following definition about software: Software is a set of instructions that with certain input data generates output data. If we look at Wikipedia, we will understand that this is precisely the definition of : computer program A is a collection of that can be by a to perform a specific task. computer program instructions executed computer But many decades ago we understood that software is much more than a program and we still don’t have good definitions of what software really is. Again according to : Wikipedia , or simply , is a collection of or instructions that tell the computer how to work. This is in contrast to , from which the system is built and actually performs the work. Computer software software data computer physical hardware In other words, the definition is by the complement (everything that is not hardware) or by physical omission (everything that cannot be kicked and can only be cursed). These definitions take us away from the only purpose we have whenever we build software that is: Mimic something that happens in a possible reality. When we do this, we are forgetting about the origins of modern programming languages ​​like . (the first object-oriented programming language and the first to include classification). Simula In that language, it was clear from the name that the goal of software construction was precisely to This is the case of most of the computer software applications today. build a simulator. Therefore and returning to the origins we can define the software as the construction of a: (M)odel: (A)bstract (P)artial and (P)rogrammable (E)xplainig (R)eality. Why is it a Model? The model is the outcome of observing a certain aspect of reality under a certain lens and a particular perspective with a certain paradigm. It is not the truth revealed. It is the best possible conception at a certain moment with the present knowledge. Since ’s time, human beings have tried to build good models of reality. Plato Photo by Max LaRochelle on Unsplash Why is it a Abstract? We can only understand it and observe it with instruments like a black box based on its behavior before our stimuli. Like Schrödinger's , we cannot know what state it is in without disturbing it with our measuring instruments. cat The technique is an excellent tool to describe a model in a declarative way. use cases If you are not a declarative programmer, you might very soon. lose your job Why is it Programmable? Because it has to run in some type of that reproduces the desired conditions. It can be a (current commercial computers), a quantum computer or any type of that can accompany the evolution of that model. simulator Turing model simulator Why is it Partial? Like any scientific model, we will make a partial cut of the reality that interests us for the problem we are modeling, taking certain simplifications on aspects that do not interest us in order to isolate the problem. A 1: 1 scale map of the earth would not make sense. Why is it Explanatory? The model must be declarative enough to let us observe its evolution, allowing us to reason and predict behaviors in the reality we are modeling. Why is it about a Reality? It should reproduce conditions that occur in an observable environment. The ultimate goal is to forecast the real world, like any simulation Once the software is defined, we can begin to infer good modeling and design practices that we will publish and add to this article. Starting Point From the axiomatic definition presented in this article, we will derive , and to build excellent software models. principles heuristics rules The One and Only Software Design Principle Part of the objective of this series of articles is to raise debate and discussion spaces on the problem of software design. We look forward to the comments and suggestions on this article. Previously published at https://medium.com/@mcsee/what-is-software-9a78c1172cf9#9065-c

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