I heard this story of this guy writing software for fighter planes in the 50s. In the same project they had this other guy responsible for keeping the overall weight of the fighter down. He once asked the software guy how much the software weighed. The software guy responded that the software didn't weigh anything. A few days later that other guy came back in triumph, holding up a stack of punch-cards, saying "See, I was right - software *does* have a weight". The software guy was silent for a few moments, then smiled and pointed at the holes in the punch-cards, saying "That is the software".
I heard this story of this guy writing software for fighter planes in the 50s. In the same project they had this other guy responsible for keeping the overall weight of the fighter down. He once asked the software guy how much the software weighed. The software guy responded that the software didn't weigh anything. A few days later that other guy came back in triumph, holding up a stack of punch-cards, saying "See, I was right - software *does* have a weight". The software guy was silent for a few moments, then smiled and pointed at the holes in the punch-cards, saying "That is the software".