Software

Software is a song from the Schoolhouse Rock! segment Scooter Computer and Mr. Chips. It teaches us about computer software.

Lyrics
To have some fun or pass a quiz Just follow this computer whiz Scooter Computer and Mr. Chips They've got the answers at their fingertips

[Scooter:] Here I am and there you stand, such distance in between Because I am a human and you are a machine How can I communicate exactly what I mean When I am a human and you are a machine

Parlez-vous Francis? Habla espanol?

[Mr. Chips:] I am a computer with so much in store If you could learn my language or I could speak in yours Then I'd do more work for you than you could ever dream

Though you are a human and I am a machine

[Scooter:] Ok, I'll give it a try

[Mr. Chips:] First I hope you'll clear your mind and listen closely, Scooter Forget the words you thought you knew and start to think computer Computers change the letters and the numerals humans type To a number code made up of things that we call bits and bytes

[Scooter:] Bits and bytes?

[Mr. Chips:] Think computer, Scooter A byte is several digits all standing in a row They help present a letter or a number that you know For instance when you write an "A" This byte is what I see And 00110011 is my way of saying "3"

This bit is one little bit of a byte

[Scooter:] I get it - bits and bytes are sort of a computer's alphabet

[Mr. Chips:] That's right, but ABC and 123 isn't talking Hey, let's face it That's why one language that we use is called computer BASIC

[Scooter:] Computer BASIC?

[Mr. Chips:] "Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code" BASIC is a language that most computers know, and once you start to speak it, communications flow. You use words and phrases - I use bits and bytes instead, and BASIC lets us understand what the other one just said.

[Scooter:] So BASIC is a language that I can talk in human and you can talk in machine and we can understand each other.

[Mr. Chips:] Yes, BASIC is the language you'll be using to feed in my data. It's also the language all my programs or software are written in.

[Scooter:] Data, programs, software?

[Mr. Chips:] Data is information Data means the facts It's everything you store in me For solving problems back A program means directions That tell me what to do How to analyze my data And find answers just for you And Software is just another name For all the instructions of programs that you feed me

[Scooter:] Here I am and there you stand, we're closer than we seem Though I am a human and you are a machine I'll get a book on BASIC and as quickly as I can I will talk computer, and you will understand

We didn't do too badly, did we Mr. Chips?

[Mr. Chips:] It was pretty amazing, Scooter