Re: Definitions of Software and Database

Leif B. Kristensen wrote:
> dawn rose and spake:
>
> > Anyway, to get this particular thread started, my question is: What is
> > a precise definition fof the term "software" when used in the phrase
> > "software developer" and (how) does software relate to databases?
>
> A software developer is a person capable of arranging a collection of
> ones and zeroes in such a way as to bend a thinking stone to obey his
> will.

Close, but since they don't direct order the 1's and 0's, it doesn't have the same ring, but perhaps:

A software developer is a person capable of causing 0's and 1's to be ordered in such a way as to bend a thinking stone to obey their will.

[Using the singular form of the pronoun "their" for gender-neutral English.]

Of course then we might have to define "thinking" ;-)

> That definition may be indistinguishable from ye lores of olden, but yet
> it is the plaine truthe.

This would make a "data entry person" a software developer by definition, right? Perhaps we can add an intent phrase, although I'm not sure that changes it sufficiently:

A software developer is a person who intentionally causes 0's and 1's to be ordered in such a way as to bend a thinking stone to obey their will.

Cheers! --dawn Received on Sun Feb 05 2006 - 17:59:17 CST