Simple matter of software
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The phrase a simple matter of software or a small matter of software has been in common use within the software industry since at least the early 1980s.[1]
It is often used as an ironic comment[2] on both the growing importance of software in all human activity and the real difficulty we have in creating good quality software.
However, it is also used without irony[3] to indicate that straightforward software development is all that is required to resolve some issue. This usage is often invoked when the speaker wants to contrast the implied ease of software changes with the suggested greater difficulty of making a hardware change or a change to an industry standard. This non-ironic usage is more often invoked by senior management and hardware engineers, than it is by software engineers.[citation needed]
See also
References
- ^ Brian Coles (June 1983). "Microcomputer hardware/software". Proceedings of the 1983 3rd International Symposium on Unmanned Untethered Submersible Technology.
It is frequently said that it is a simple matter of software to tailor a system to meet the requirements of a specific application. This statement - with its, hopefully, intended humor is one of the key points of this paper.
- ^ James Avery (February 1983). "Using Microcomputers in the Laboratory". "Journal of Chemical Information and Computer Sciences: 77.
For an amazing number of systems, the kick is simple and direct, and the numbers are few and slow to appear. This leads many to the conclusion that a simple slow computer would suffice for these applications. This is a mistake. … "It is a Simple Matter of Software"
- ^ John Dybowski (January 1991). "ONDI – The ON-line Device Interface" (PDF). Circuit Cellar INK The computer Applications Journal (18): 16.
This turns out to be an almost trivial exercise, mainly because the computer is used to compute and the controller to control. Just a simple matter of software.