Software

Why Is Software Important?  

1. Almost all electronic devices run some software  

2. Automobile engine control system, implantable medical devices, remote controls, office machines (e.g., photocopiers), appliances (e.g., televisions, refrigerators, washers/dryers, dishwashers, air conditioner), power tools, toys, mobile phones, media players, computers, printers, photocopies, disk drives, scanners, webcams, MRI machines.

Why Software-Based Solutions?

1. More cost effective to implement functionality in software than hardware 

2. Software bugs easy to fix, give customer new software upgrade 

3. Hardware bugs extremely costly to repair, customer sends in old device and manufacturer sends replacement

4. Systems increasingly complex, bugs unavoidable

5. Allows new features to be added later

6. Implement only absolute minimal functionality in hardware, do the rest in software

Software-Related Jobs 

1. Many more software jobs than hardware jobs 

2. Relatively small team of hardware designers produce platform like iPhone  

3. Thousands of companies develop applications for platform  

4. Only implement directly in hardware when absolutely necessary (e.g., for performance reasons).

Which Language to Learn? 

1. C,C++, Fortran, Java, MATLAB, C#, Objective C 

2. Programming language popularity

3. Software Programming Community  

4. Programming Language Popularity Normalized Comparison 

5.  International standard 

6. Vendor neutral