<human>:  When was the first software written?
<bot>: The first software was written in the early 1800s by Charles Babbage. He wrote a program that could be used to solve a particular type of problem called a difference engine. The difference engine was used to calculate the difference between two numbers. Babbage had a vision of a machine that could perform calculations on data that was stored on punch cards. He never built his machine, but he did write the first program to solve a problem.