Computer software (often called just software) is a set of instructions and associated documentation that tells a computer what to do or how to perform a task or it can mean all the software on a computer, including the applications and the operating system. Applications are programs that do a specific thing, such as a game or a word processor. The operating system (Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, Linux, etc.) is software that helps the applications run, and controls the display and the keyboard.
The word software was first used in the late 1960s to show the difference from computer hardware, which are the parts of a machine that can be seen and touched. Software is the instructions that the computer follows. Before compact discs (CDs) or Internet downloads, software came on various computer data storage media like paper punch cards, magnetic discs or magnetic tape.

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