Clarification Relating to First Use of "Software"

[Jonathan Lighter]

What about "wetware"?

JL

On Sun, Sep 9, 2012 at 10:19 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Clarification Relating to First Use of "Software"
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> At 9/9/2012 09:18 PM, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
> >I meant to type "1958," not "2000," for the date of Tukey's usage of
> >"software."
>
> Ah, I wondered.  I was writing software long before 2000.  :-)
>
> But I also wonder about 1958.  (I was writing software before then
> too, although not for very long and I called it "programs.")  The
> first programmable machines (I exclude Jacquard looms and Ada
> Lovelace) were developed in the 1940s; Assembly languages were used
> in the early 1950s, and FORTRAN appeared in 1954.  I would not be
> surprised if "software" was hiding somewhere slightly earlier than 1958.
>
> With regard to
> >The OED fails to recognize that there was a material-culture sense
> >of "software" that long predated the computer sense.  Here is an early
> example:
> >
> >1850 _Sharpe's London Journal_ July 251 (British Periodicals)  At
> >the conclusion of the last war, the old stocks [of porcelain] in the
> >Royal Manufactory of Sevres [accent over first e] were put up to
> >auction, and bought by certain individuals, who also collected all
> >the soft ware they could find in the possession of other persons.
>
> This "soft ware" seems to be particular to pottery ("Under soft ware
> again may be included unglazed earthenware, terra cotta,
> common pottery, and mato- lisa ware."), thus simply "(pottery) ware
> that is soft", presumably in contrast to porcelain et al., and not
> some early form of a compound (word, that is).  Does it deserve its
> own dictionary entry?
>
> Joel
>
> >Fred Shapiro
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >________________________________
> >From: Shapiro, Fred
> >Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2012 9:15 PM
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >Cc: jester at panix.com
> >Subject: Clarification Relating to First Use of "Software"
> >
> >I published an article in 2000 in the IEEE Annals of the History of
> >Computing, antedating the OED's first use of the word "software" by
> >finding it used by statistician John W. Tukey in 2000.  This
> >discovery received worldwide attention when Tukey died and the New
> >York Times headlined his obituary describing him as the coiner of
> "software."
> >
> >Tukey's coinage has not gone unchallenged.  Someone named Paul
> >Niquette has claimed energetically for years that he originated the
> >term, but he has never come up with any kind of documentation of his
> >claim.  The Wikipedia entry for John W. Tukey points to a 1956 usage
> >in Google Books, but whoever wrote about that did not see the book in
> question.
> >
> >I have borrowed the 1956 book from the library of the Jet Propulsion
> >Laboratory.  It turns out that the occurrence of "software" there
> >does not refer to computer programs.  However, the citation may
> >possibly be worthy of inclusion in the OED with square brackets
> >around it, or under a different sense of "software."  Here it is:
> >
> >1956 _Second National Symposium on Quality Control and Reliability
> >in Electronics_ (Professional Group on Quality Control, Institute of
> >Radio Engineers and the Electronics Technical Committee, American
> >Society for Quality Control) 149  A missile system includes the
> >vehicle and warhead, the auxiliary ground or airborne equipment, the
> >support and test equipment, and the operating personnel.  In
> >addition, the interactions between these various elements, hardware
> >and software (people), must be recognized and included as the glue
> >that holds the system together.
> >
> >The OED fails to recognize that there was a material-culture sense
> >of "software" that long predated the computer sense.  Here is an early
> example:
> >
> >1850 _Sharpe's London Journal_ July 251 (British Periodicals)  At
> >the conclusion of the last war, the old stocks [of porcelain] in the
> >Royal Manufactory of Sevres [accent over first e] were put up to
> >auction, and bought by certain individuals, who also collected all
> >the soft ware they could find in the possession of other persons.
> >
> >Fred Shapiro
> >
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