6 ms·

I had this moment recently.... What’s between hardware and software? Firmware Hard - Firm - Soft Maybe I never saw it since I am not a native English speake

by weitzj 6y ago

I had this moment recently.... What’s between hardware and software? Firmware Hard - Firm - Soft Maybe I never saw it since I am not a native English speaker. But better late than never Like: Heavy Metal - Metal - HardRock - Soft Rock

jansan 6y ago
Heavy Metal - Metal - HardRock - Soft Rock - Rock Astley
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
asplake 6y ago
It’s a well established term. Coined in 1967 according to Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmware https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmware
- jansan 6y ago
  Thanks for pointing this out. As a non-native speaker I always thought "firm" in firmware was referring to "company".
  - rkangel 6y ago
    Firmware is usually used for something that's software like, but lower level. For example, the designs we build usually involve electronics, an FPGA, and a 'normal' processor. It's not formal terminology, but we usually refer to them as hardware (electronics), firmware (FPGA code) and software (C/Python/etc code).
    - bmitc 6y ago
      I have always viewed hard, firm, and soft as a description of the ware's malleability. Hardware is not easily changed or updateable, if at all. Firmware is typically code deployed to stay in hardware like an EEPROM, flash, or FPGA, where it can be changed but not necessarily dynamically or easily. Software is able to be easily molded and changed.
grenoire 6y ago
Pass the joint over and that's shareware.
- cosmodisk 6y ago
  Give a small trial bag with powder and that's trialware.
- pantalaimon 6y ago
  You got to follow the protocol http://darklab.org/jrp.txt http://darklab.org/jrp.txt
ktpsns 6y ago
Can somebody explain this word juggling for a non-native speaker? Wikipedia in my mother tongue explains "firm" coming from "solid/tight/strong" (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmware https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmware).
- kolinko 6y ago
  If you take a fresh tomato, it will be firm - kind of hard, but it doesn't take much force to give up. If you freeze the tomato, it will be hard. If you wait for a few days, it will become soft. Another example is a handshake. A soft handshake is what you shouldn't do (like handshaking a fish), a hard handshake you shouldn't do either (because it will hurt the other person), the best handshake is a firm (or solid) handshake.
- m4tthumphrey 6y ago
  "Hard" is the "hardest" of materials. "Firm" is not quite hard, but not soft either. "Soft" is not hard at all. A good analogy would be cooking steak; - Hard = well done - Firm = medium - Soft = rare Edit: explaining this was harder than I initially thought...
  - ajuc 6y ago
    That's funny, we have similar words to firm ("jędrny"/"sprężysty"/"elastyczny"), but they aren't on the soft-hard scale, they are independent property. I wouldn't guess that firm is between hard and soft in English.
    - kolinko 6y ago
      Woah, I never realised we don't actually have a good word for "firm" in Polish :)
      - ajuc 6y ago
        jędrny is close - works for food and for body parts
- 6y ago
pantalaimon 6y ago
I also like Byte - Nibble - Bit
mrob 6y ago
"Heavy metal" is not harder than "metal". "Heavy metal" has two meanings. The original meaning is hard rock with a special emphasis on distorted guitars and strong rhythms. "Metal" is an abbreviation of "heavy metal" in this sense. But now "heavy metal" has an additional meaning: the traditional 1970s/1980s style of heavy metal, e.g. Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest. "Heavy metal" in this sense is a sub-genre of "heavy metal" in the previous sense. Most fans of "heavy metal" in the first sense abbreviate it to "metal", and use "heavy metal" specifically for the older style. With these meanings, "metal" includes extreme metal styles, e.g. death/black metal, so it's on average harder than "heavy metal".
- Fiveplus 6y ago
  That's an interesting piece of info. Thanks for sharing!
bryanrasmussen 6y ago
I thought the firm in firmware referred to the firm that had put the software onto the hardware that made the hardware work, so firmware is a type of software without which the computing hardware won't do anything at all, and non-firmware software is some software you buy or otherwise acquire and put on your device to enable it to extra things.
Insanity 6y ago
I also never saw this "hard firm soft" connection. Thanks!

by weitzj 6y ago

jansan 6y ago

Heavy Metal - Metal - HardRock - Soft Rock - Rock Astley

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

asplake 6y ago

It’s a well established term. Coined in 1967 according to Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmware https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmware

jansan 6y ago
Thanks for pointing this out. As a non-native speaker I always thought "firm" in firmware was referring to "company".
- rkangel 6y ago
  Firmware is usually used for something that's software like, but lower level. For example, the designs we build usually involve electronics, an FPGA, and a 'normal' processor. It's not formal terminology, but we usually refer to them as hardware (electronics), firmware (FPGA code) and software (C/Python/etc code).
  - bmitc 6y ago
    I have always viewed hard, firm, and soft as a description of the ware's malleability. Hardware is not easily changed or updateable, if at all. Firmware is typically code deployed to stay in hardware like an EEPROM, flash, or FPGA, where it can be changed but not necessarily dynamically or easily. Software is able to be easily molded and changed.

grenoire 6y ago

Pass the joint over and that's shareware.

cosmodisk 6y ago
Give a small trial bag with powder and that's trialware.
pantalaimon 6y ago
You got to follow the protocol http://darklab.org/jrp.txt http://darklab.org/jrp.txt

ktpsns 6y ago

Can somebody explain this word juggling for a non-native speaker? Wikipedia in my mother tongue explains "firm" coming from "solid/tight/strong" (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmware https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmware).

kolinko 6y ago
If you take a fresh tomato, it will be firm - kind of hard, but it doesn't take much force to give up. If you freeze the tomato, it will be hard. If you wait for a few days, it will become soft. Another example is a handshake. A soft handshake is what you shouldn't do (like handshaking a fish), a hard handshake you shouldn't do either (because it will hurt the other person), the best handshake is a firm (or solid) handshake.
m4tthumphrey 6y ago
"Hard" is the "hardest" of materials. "Firm" is not quite hard, but not soft either. "Soft" is not hard at all. A good analogy would be cooking steak; - Hard = well done - Firm = medium - Soft = rare Edit: explaining this was harder than I initially thought...
- ajuc 6y ago
  That's funny, we have similar words to firm ("jędrny"/"sprężysty"/"elastyczny"), but they aren't on the soft-hard scale, they are independent property. I wouldn't guess that firm is between hard and soft in English.
  - kolinko 6y ago
    Woah, I never realised we don't actually have a good word for "firm" in Polish :)
    - ajuc 6y ago
      jędrny is close - works for food and for body parts
6y ago

pantalaimon 6y ago

I also like Byte - Nibble - Bit

mrob 6y ago

"Heavy metal" is not harder than "metal". "Heavy metal" has two meanings. The original meaning is hard rock with a special emphasis on distorted guitars and strong rhythms. "Metal" is an abbreviation of "heavy metal" in this sense. But now "heavy metal" has an additional meaning: the traditional 1970s/1980s style of heavy metal, e.g. Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest. "Heavy metal" in this sense is a sub-genre of "heavy metal" in the previous sense. Most fans of "heavy metal" in the first sense abbreviate it to "metal", and use "heavy metal" specifically for the older style. With these meanings, "metal" includes extreme metal styles, e.g. death/black metal, so it's on average harder than "heavy metal".

Fiveplus 6y ago
That's an interesting piece of info. Thanks for sharing!

bryanrasmussen 6y ago

I thought the firm in firmware referred to the firm that had put the software onto the hardware that made the hardware work, so firmware is a type of software without which the computing hardware won't do anything at all, and non-firmware software is some software you buy or otherwise acquire and put on your device to enable it to extra things.

Insanity 6y ago

I also never saw this "hard firm soft" connection. Thanks!