what is Software?


what is Software?

Computer needs instruction to tell it what to do, how to do and when to do. Thus the electronic instruction well defined and well organized, that people write to tell the Hardware what to do to get desired results are called programs. Software   refers to a set of programs that makes the hardware perform a particular set of tasks in a particular order. Software can be classified mainly in two categories as follows.

1.      System Software
a.      Operating system
b.      Utilities


2.      Application Software
a.      General Purpose
b.      Compliers for high level Languages


1.      System software is responsible for the running of the computer and management of computer resources. Operating System (OS) falls under this category.

An operating system is system software that provides an interface for a user to communicate with the computer, manages hardware devices (disk drives, a keyboard. A monitor, and so on), manages and maintains disk file systems, and supports application programs. Some of the popular operating systems are, DOS, UNIX, UNIXWARE, WINDOWS,OS/2 WARP, WINDOWS NT, WINDOWS 2000, WINDOWS XP AND LINUX etc.

Although OS developers try to provide all the features users need to use and maintain their systems, inevitably, they do not meet everyone’s expectation. This has led to another type of system software called utilities. These are programs that bridge the gap between the functionality of an Os and the needs of users. Utility programs are a broad category of software. They range from programs that can organize or compress the files on a disk to programs that provide a menu interface to a command-line OS.

 
For example,
Norton Utilities, Antivirus software, Network resources management etc.

2.      Application Software
There are two types of application software:
a.      General purpose software:- for creation of files of various types.
b.      Computer language:- for designing customized applications.


a.      General purpose Application Software
These are user- friendly software to help the user write letters, analyze numbers, sort files, draw pictures and even lay games. It is a group of programs that provide general purpose tools to solve specific problems. Some of the application software are listed below:

Word processing software like:
Word Star
Word Perfect
MS-Word
Data analysis (Spreadsheets):
Lotus 1-2-3
SCO Professional
MS-Excel
Data Management:
Dbase IV
Fox plus
FoxPro
Ms-Access
Lotus Approach
Oracle
DB2
SQL Server

Desk Top publishing:
Ventura
Page maker
CorelDraw
Press Works etc.
Graphics Tools:
                                      Adobe Photoshop
                                       Paint Shop Pro
Presentations:
Microsoft PowerPoint
Presentation Graphics
Internal Browsers:
Microsoft Internal Explorer
Netscape Navigator   

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