Music notation software are computer program

Computer program

A computer program is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor. The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute...

s that are used to create and print sheet music

Sheet music

Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...

. Also known as "score writers".

Traditional classical music

Classical music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

 from Western culture

Western culture

Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...

 is extremely complex and music notation software is a challenging application. The main products have a graphical interface similar to sheet music with staves, notes, beam and the entire set of music symbols represented. Main input methods are: step by step using a set of symbols palette and the mouse, MIDI real time recording, or scanning sheet music.

Some projects represent music in an XML

XML

Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....

 based markup language called "Music Markup Language

Music Markup Language

Music Markup Language is an XML application to describe music objects and events, using different modules and markup. MML can be delivered in different formats, such as text, block bars or piano roll, Common Western Notation or MIDI-devices. Since MML can be employed in such simple and accessible...

." However, the representation of music written in such a language is still to be resolved as present internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 browser

Web browser

A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...

s cannot represent music.

Scalable Vector Graphics

There is now interest in the World Wide Web Consortium

World Wide Web Consortium

The World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web .Founded and headed by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations which maintain full-time staff for the purpose of working together in the development of standards for the...

's (W3C) Scalable Vector Graphics

Scalable Vector Graphics

Scalable Vector Graphics is a family of specifications of an XML-based file format for describing two-dimensional vector graphics, both static and dynamic . The SVG specification is an open standard that has been under development by the World Wide Web Consortium since 1999.SVG images and their...

 (SVG) as a means for representing music. Although a music font

Font

In typography, a font is traditionally defined as a quantity of sorts composing a complete character set of a single size and style of a particular typeface...

may be used for the purpose, ideally, all music symbols must be produced using SVG elements.