COMPUTER SOFTWARE | System software | Application software

COMPUTER SOFTWARE

COMPUTER SOFTWARE

Software is a set of computer programs procedures, and associated documentation related to the effective operation of a computer system.

Hardware represents the physical components of the computer, i.e., the components that can be seen and touched. Input devices, output devices, CPU, Floppy disk, etc., are examples of hardware.

Computer hardware in itself cannot perform any useful task. It must be complemented with some instructions, which the hardware understands and obeys.

A program is the name given to a list of instructions or statements that direct the computer to perform the required task. Software (Programs) are of the following types : 

(a) System software 

(b) Application software

(a) System Software 

System software, or system packages, are sets of one or more programs that are basically designed to control the operation of computer system.

System software

They are general programs written to assist users in performing tasks, such as controlling hardware, moving data into and out of a computer and all the other steps in executing the application program.

In general, system packages control the following: 

(a) Running of other software packages. 

(b) Communicating with peripheral devices, such as printers hard disk and tape devices, etc.

 (C) Monitoring the use of various hardware resources, such as memory, peripherals, CPU, etc. 

System software, thus, make the operation of the computer system more effective and efficient.

 (b)Application Software

Application software packages cater to the need of a specific group of users, namely, software for scientists, for inventory control, for school administration, for library management, etc.

Application software

The System software packages, on the other hand, manage computer hardware and supervise the working of application packages.

Such software packages also do input/output device management, file management, storage management, etc. 

System software are the ones which directly talk with the hardware components.

The Application software in turn talk with the System software for their execution.

The system software work in the background for effective utilization of computer resources and minimize human effort in programming and debugging.

Some examples of system software are Language Translators, Loaders, Linkers and Operating system software, such as Windows 2000 and Linux, etc.