Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

One of the differences between hardware and software is that hardware requires some design before building begins. Software, however, can begin at any moment without design.

I was a bit surprised the other day at work, but people were debating the differences between building hardware and “building” software. (I guess that is a topic for another day, i.e., do we “build” software? “Write” software? What is the correct verb?)

There are many differences; the difference I recognized that day was:

Design

I contend that I have to design hardware before I can build it. I contend that I  can write software without any design.

Consider hardware. I cannot build hardware without parts. Depending on the job, the parts may be as small as resistors, capacitors, solder, and so on. The parts may be as large as A/D converter, USB interface, power supply and so on. Parts don’t appear magically. I have to buy or borrow or whatever to possess the parts. I can’t buy or borrow or whatever without having a list of parts. I don’t have a list of parts without some design.

Consider software. I don’t need any parts. I can start writing software at any moment. Yes, I must have a computer and a piece of software like a compiler or interpreter or the like. Those needs, however, don’t differentiate me from the hardware case as I need a computer and some design software for hardware as well.