Re: [ELPA] New package: repology.el

[Jean Louis]

* Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> [2021-01-26 16:43]:
> >   > We don't consider the bitmap files in the Emacs distribution to be 
> > software.
> > Indeed, pictures are not software.
> 
> I don't think that holds either: the formats for images are
> domain-specific languages (DSL) in which to express how to build the
> final image.  Most of those DSLs are too limited to be thought of as
> programming languages (i.e. they're not Turing complete, tho there are
> exceptions like PostScript), but if you think of the definition of
> Kolmogorov complexity, it's clear that a PNG file is a "program" written
> in a DSL.
> 
> So, what this points to is that it's futile to try and decide whether
> something like that is software or not.

That is interesting insight, thank you.

In my opinion we use here too often interchangeably "software" for
"software program" or "computer program", while "software" as general
term has broader definition. For example NEWS file is part of Emacs
software, or part of software package, but not Emacs as software
program.

Wikipedia definition points out that all relevant documentation is
also part of software that runs computer.