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.
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
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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