System

A system is a set of interacting or interdependent component parts forming a complex/intricate whole. Every system is delineated by its spatial and temporal boundaries, surrounded and influenced by its environment, described by its structure and purpose and expressed in its functioning.

The term system may also refer to a set of rules that governs structure and/or behavior. Alternatively, and usually in the context of complex social systems, the term is used to describe the set of rules that govern structure and/or behavior.

Etymology

The term "system" comes from the Latin word systēma, in turn from Greek σύστημα systēma: "whole compounded of several parts or members, system", literary "composition".

History

According to Marshall McLuhan,

"System" means "something to look at". You must have a very high visual gradient to have systematization. In philosophy, before Descartes, there was no "system". Plato had no "system". Aristotle had no "system".

In the 19th century the French physicist Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, who studied thermodynamics, pioneered the development of the concept of a "system" in the natural sciences. In 1824 he studied the system which he called the working substance (typically a body of water vapor) in steam engines, in regards to the system's ability to do work when heat is applied to it. The working substance could be put in contact with either a boiler, a cold reservoir (a stream of cold water), or a piston (to which the working body could do work by pushing on it). In 1850, the German physicist Rudolf Clausius generalized this picture to include the concept of the surroundings and began to use the term "working body" when referring to the system.

System (disambiguation)

The term system may refer to:

System, a set of entities, real or abstract, comprising a whole

Meta-system, something composed of multiple smaller systems

In natural sciences

Systems science, an interdisciplinary field that studies the nature of complex systems in nature, society, and science

Physical system, the portion of the physical universe chosen for analysis

Thermodynamic system

Thermodynamic system

Planetary system, e.g., the Solar System

Ecosystem, an entity comprising a large number of organisms and their environment

Biological system, a group of organs

System (stratigraphy), a unit of the geologic record of a rock column

Linguistic system, a conception of linguistics in the tradition of linguists such as Ferdinand de Saussure, J. R. Firth, Louis Hjelmslev, Michael Halliday, Ruqaiya Hasan, Jay Lemke

In information technology

Computer system, the combination of hardware and software which forms a complete, working computer. Computer systems will include the computer alongside any software (example: operating system, BIOS) and peripheral devices that are necessary to make the computer function.

Operating system

System (journal)

System (ISSN 0346-251X) is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the applications of educational technology and applied linguistics to problems of foreign language teaching and learning. It was established in 1973 and is published quarterly by Elsevier.

References

External links

Official website

Online access at ScienceDirect