Scene
Science
Script
Sense
Sensibility
Service
Sign
Simulation
Sketch
Software
Space
Structuralism
Structure
Study of design
Sustainability
Symbol
System
Software
This word was created as an antonym in response to the use of the word "hardware" to address the computer. Everything that surrounds or is used with hardware devices&sbquo such as the operating system and programming language&sbquo is called "software." In tandem with the progress of the computer and expansion of its functionality&sbquo the meaning of the word "software" has expanded. Today&sbquo the range of its definition is not limited to programs but includes even instruction manuals and related documents. Originality&sbquo these were supplied with the computer as accessories&sbquo but they gradually gained a distinct significance of their own&sbquo and led to the software industry advocating the field of software engineering around 1968. Due to the recent progress in computers it is also true today that the boundary between hardware and software is becoming vague. The definitions of these two words have expanded so much that it is now acceptable to use them as contrastive metaphors&sbquo such as "hard-ware" as civilization" and "software as culture." In design&sbquo the expression of design itself is said to be "hardware-like&sbquo" while everything from the application of design to the domain pertaining to the results of the design can be called the "software" of design. As to the benefit and effect of design&sbquo therefore&sbquo the issues of what is "design as software" or what is the "software we call design" have become sufficiently valid subjects for discussion.