Types of software

Types of software

Computer Software is basically categorized into three types:

1. System Software
2. Application software
3. Programming Language & Scripting

1. System Software:

The software that control and direct the operation of the computer

hardware is called system Software. System software is the collection of the programs written for computer, which allows the users to develop and run program. The systems software starts up the computer, makes it ready and allows the user to work on different program.

The system software consist of Operating System and Utility Software.

     

a)      Operating System Software:

An operating system is a set of programs that controls and supervises a computer system and provides services to computer users. Operating System Software controls overall activates of the computer. It acts as an interface between a user, program and the hardware. DOS, UNIX, XENIX, Windows are examples of Operating System.

b)      Utility Software:

The software, which helps the user of manage files & folder, checking viruses, keeping PC Healthy and system settings is called Utility Software. These are also the software tool which helps the users while preparing program. PC TOOLS, Scandisk, Disk , Defragmenter, Norton Antivirus, languages Processors (Assembler, compiler) are the examples of Utility Software

Language Processors:

            The programs that translate the program written in a high level and low level language to machine codes are called language processors. 

Assembler:   It translate the programs written in a low level language (assembly) to                                     machine code.

Compilers:    It translate the programs in a high level language to machine codes. The                                 compilers translate the whole program at a time that makes the execution faster.

Interpreter:    It also translate the program written in a high level language to machine codes.                        Unlike compiler, it translates a single statement of a program at a time. Due to                        his it is easier to locate errors and debugging becomes easier.

2. Application Software:

The software used for special purpose (Specific Task) written in a specific language is know as application software. It also may be defined as software that acts as interface between the user and the system software to allow the user to perform specific task. These programs perform certain task with respect to related program. Basically, there are two types of Application software.

a)      Package Software

This software is the set of the pre-written programs by another person or group and made available to computer users. Many kinds of related works can be performed by using any required software. Ms. Word, Ms. Excel, Ms. Access, Adobe PageMaker, Auto Card are the examples of Package software.

b)      Tailored or Custom Software

The tailored software are used to perform specific tasks only like Accounting, Super Market Billing, Mark Sheet Preparation, Inventory Control etc. They are developed on demand of the clients. GMACC, POS2004, MEDI-PRO, TALLY etc. are the example Tailored software.

3. Computer Languages and Scripting:

A language a set of codes, which are used to write the programs. There are basically two levels of programming languages. These are:

 a) Low level Language

     i) Machine level Language

     ii) Assembly Language

c)      High Level Language

a)      Low Level Language:

i)        Machine Level Language:

This is the computer’s language. Computer understand information composed of only zeros (0s) and ones(1s) and hence. It uses binary digits for its operation. Programs, written in machine language only understood by the computer. The programming in the languages is highly complicated. So, only software experts and only one personnel related to inner system can program in this language. These program codes or statements can be loaded directly into the computer’s memory. Today, programs are written in special programming language, but these programs must still be translated into the machine language before the program can by executed.

ii) Assembly Language:

            The writing of programs in machine language is very difficult, tiresome and boring job for a programmer. To solve this problem and to facilitate programmer, easily understandable languages have been developed. Assembly language is one of them. Programs can easily be written in alphanumeric symbols instead of 0s and 1s. Meaningful and easily remunerable symbols are selected for this purpose. For example, ADD for addition, SUB for subtraction, CMP for comparison etc. Such symbols are known as mnemonics. A program written in mnemonics is called assembly language program. The writing of programs in assembly language is easier and faster as compared to the writing of programs in a machine language. However, programming in this language must be translated into machine language before the program can be executed. An assembler is a program, which converts this language into the machine code. So it is also sometimes called Assembly Language.

b)      High level Language:

These types of language are written in English language with set of rules, called Syntax. Thus, it is easier to program than the other languages. These are easy to write, read and understand. Mistakes can be easily found and corrected in this language. Programs in this language also must be translated into machine language before the program can be executed. A compiler is a program, which translate into binary digits (i.e. machine language). COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language), FORTRAN (Formula TRANslation), BASIC ( Beginner’ All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), C, C++ etc. are the example of High Level Language.

     The advantages of High Level Language are:

i.                    They are easier to learn as compared to assembly languages.

ii.                  They make programs easier and faster to write.

iii.                Provide better documentation.

iv.                The programmer does not have limitations to use a single type of machine.

v.                  Programs are portable, i.e. they will run on any computer, which as a similar compiler.

BASIC: It is a group of similar high-level programming languages whose name is derived from the words Beginners all-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. BASIC was developed in the mid 1960s. it is a simple programming language, is easy to learn. It allows easy modification of programs.

FORTRAN: It is the short form of FORmula TRANslation. It is the first high-level computer language developed over the period 1954 to 58. It is especially used in the field of science and engineering. FORTRAN is a structured language.

C. C is a general-purpose high-level programming language. It was developed by Dennis M. Ritchie in 1970’s. It is used to write any kinds of operating system and application software.

C++: The C++ is a super set of C language. It is an object Oriented Programming Linage. It is an advance form of C and used to write various programs.

Visual Basic: Visual Basic is a very powerful program developing tools ( not a pure programming language) that is especially used to design windows based programs. It was developed by Microsoft Corporation, USA.

Human ware/Live ware:

   Person, who operates (handles) computer and its periphery, is known as Human ware. It is also sometimes called User/Operator. A Computer is a totally used dependent device. It does not have its own brain, so it cannot work itself. So, a set of sequenced instructions is the soul and user is the heart of the computer system.