[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Thomas Bushnell, BSG) a tapoté :
> Stephane Bortzmeyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
> > This was very often written in that thread but it is wrong. To be
> > stored on a FTP server or burned on a CD, you just need to be
> > digital. You do not need to be software. The Bible does not become
> > software once you type it in vi or Emacs.
> >
> > [This confusion between "software" and "digital" seems very prevalent
> > in Debian. I share Mathieu's regrets about it.]
>
> Perhaps people who aren't native English speakers have learned the
> wrong definitions?
>
> Software is distinguished from *hardware*, and thus refers to bits as
> opposed to atoms, and it is irrelevant what the particular bits
> represent.
>
> Of course in the early days of computing, most the only software on
> computers consisted of programs, and so a lot of people got
> confused.
"Software" is translated into "Logiciel" in French, which means program
actually.
The "French name" for Free Software is "Logiciel Libre".
It makes no room for confusion: when you believe in "Logiciel Libre",
it does not mean at all that you think that magically every text that
is copied on a computer change it's nature (like the Bible stopping
to be a theological text to be a "software")
If this translation, endorsed by the FSF France I think, as been
picked, it's surely not a mistake but because "Logiciel" is really
what need to be free in an operating system -- it is the operating
system. Do you think every text you type on your computer should be
worldwide shared?
Finally, apparently english dictionnaries we can get for instance via
kdict define software in a way do not contradict the translation
"Logiciel":
WordNet (r) 1.7 [wn]
software
n : (computer science) written programs or procedures or rules
and associated documentation pertaining to the operation
of a computer system and that are stored in read/write
memory; "the market for software is expected to expand"
[syn: software system, software package, package]
[ant: hardware]
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (09 FEB 02) [foldoc]
software
<programming> (Or "computer program", "program") The
instructions executed by a computer, as opposed to the
physical device on which they run (the "hardware").
"Code" is closely related but not exactly the same.
Programs stored on non-volatile storage built from
integrated circuits (e.g. ROM or PROM) are usually
called firmware.
Software can be split into two main types - system software
and application software or application programs. System
software is any software required to support the production or
execution of application programs but which is not specific to
any particular application. Examples of system software would
include the operating system, compilers, editors and
sorting programs.
Examples of application programs would include an accounts
package or a CAD program. Other broad classes of
application software include real-time software, business
software, scientific and engineering software, embedded
software, personal computer software and artificial
intelligence software.
Software includes both source code written by humans and
executable machine code produced by assemblers or
compilers. It does not usually include the data processed
by programs unless this is in a format such as multimedia
which depends on the use of computers for its presentation.
This distinction becomes unclear in cases such as spread
sheets which can contain both instructions (formulae and
macros) and data. There are also various intermediate
compiled or semi-compiled, forms of software such as
library files and byte-code.
Some claim that documentation (both paper and electronic) is
also software. Others go further and define software to be
programs plus documentation though this does not correspond
with common usage.
The noun "program" describes a single, complete and
more-or-less self-contained list of instructions, often stored
in a single file, whereas "code" and "software" are
uncountable nouns describing some number of instructions which
may constitute one or more programs or part thereof. Most
programs, however, rely heavily on various kinds of operating
system software for their execution.
(1998-06-04)
--
Mathieu Roy
Homepage:
http://yeupou.coleumes.org
Not a native english speaker:
http://stock.coleumes.org/doc.php?i=/misc-files/flawed-english
