The day is sunny and bright. Software is a program of instructions. Software is a box containing user manuals, install disks, utility programs, application programs, data files, and online help files. Software is the phenomenon we experience when the pro- gram executes in a certain operating environment, on a certain hardware platform. Software is the total interaction between the human user and the program over time.
Software is a solution provided to a customer.
A specification is an understanding, on the part of the developers, testers, documenters, technical supporters, marketers, management and users of how the software is supposed to behave. Part of a specification may be a document delivered at the beginning of the project. Part of a specification may be a prototype or previous version of the software. Part of the specification may be an ongoing dialog between the developers, testers, documenters, technical supporters, marketers, management and users of the software. Part of the specification may be aspects of other soft- ware packages that solve similar problems.