How software works?

Answer 1

In order to understand how software works, you must first understand how computers "think".

Computers think using a system of 1's and 0's in order to represent numbers, letters, and instructions from a program. This is called machine code, or binary. Machine code is the "native" language of a computer, as it is the only language the computer can understand. Every internal instruction inside the computer is written in machine code.

In order for software to "work", a programmer must first specify the instructions needed in order to make it function properly. These instructions are usually written in a high-level programming language such as C++, which has a high level of abstraction, or a low-level programming language such as assembly language, which has a low level of abstraction. Either way, the computer cannot directly interpret these instructions by themselves, so the programmer converts them into machine code using a program called a compiler.

After the program is developed by the programmer and compiled into machine code, the computer can now understand the instructions inside the program and executes them. For instance, the string of binary 1011001 might add the number 1 to a special purpose register.

There is a lot more information on how software works and this is just the basics.