Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
quently required the purchase of new hardware and peripherals, another
set of actors—vendors, sales engineers, and technicians—would have to
be brought in. After the software design architecture had been estab-
lished, it would be turned over to the programmers. Although program-
ming is usually thought of in terms of the translation of a design
architecture into the coded language that a computer could understand,
in fact, most programs were written in a higher-level language that a
human
could understand. Only later would this human-readable program
be compiled into a lower-lever machine language meant only for a com-
puter. Once these various versions of the code were written and com-
piled, the software application would still need to be installed, tested,
and debugged. At each step a different set of users, experts, and techni-
cians would be involved.
After the software had been tested and debugged (and possibly rede-
signed and reprogrammed), another series of documents—user manuals,
training materials, and marketing materials—would have to be devel-
oped. Everyone involved in the accounting system, including not only
those who interacted directly with the computerized system, such machine
operators and clerical staff, but also higher-level managers or those
members of other departments who needed to engage with or at least
understand the new system, would have to be trained. The system would
also have to be “operated” (a function that would eventually be taken
over by yet another piece of software, called an operating system).
Finally, the software would need to be continuously maintained—not
because the software application would “break” but because the context
in which it was used, or the other systems that it interacted with, included
such nontechnical systems as corporate accounting policies and govern-
mental regulations, would change over time. As much as two-thirds of
the cost of a software system was incurred
after
the software was devel-
oped and operational.
18
Viewed from this historical perspective, it is easy to see the signifi cance
of software in the history of computing. Software was an ever-expanding
category that grew not only in size and scale but also in scope. As the
nuts and bolts of computer hardware became faster, more reliable, and
less expensive—and therefore increasingly invisible to the end user—the
relative importance of software became even more pronounced.
19
In
effect, for most organizations, by the end of the 1960s software had
become the computer: software, rather than the computer, had become
the focus of all discussion, debate, and dissension within the computing
community.
