COMPUTER SOFTWARE

•Definition:Software is an organized collection collection of

computer data and instructions .
•It is responsible for controlling, integrating, and managing the
hardware components of a computer to accomplish a specific
task.
•These instructions are given in the form of computer programs,
which are written in computer programming languages.
 Relationship between hardware and
software

• Hardware - the physical parts that make

up the computer
• Software - computer programs and
applications loaded into the computer
system.
 Software Categories
Computer Software

System Software Application Software

System Management System Development

Programs Programs
 System Software
• Essential for computer to function.

• Comprises of programs written in low-level

languages, which interact with the hardware.

• Examples of operating systems:

• Windows, DOS, Apple, UNIX
 System Software

System Software

System Management System Development

Programs Programs
 System Management Programs
• As the name implies are responsible for the management and
accurate functioning of computer system.

• These software's are commercially available in the market

as operating system, device drivers, and system utilities.
 System Management Programs
• Operating system
• It is responsible for performing basic tasks such as
1. recognizing input from the keyboard
2. Sending output to the display screen
3. Provides platform on top of which other programs can
run.
 System Management Programs
• Device Drivers
• It is responsible for proper functioning of devices
.
• Every device or hardware whether it is a printer,
monitor, mouse or keyboard has a driver
program for support.
• A driver acts as a translator between the device
and the programs that use the device .
 System Management Programs
System Utilities : performs day-to-day tasks related to
maintenance of computer system.
Usually bundled with operating system.
• Virus protection : Antivirus are essential system software for a
computer functioning in a network
• Disk Management : includes system software's like
1. Defragmenting disks: implies putting fragments of files in a
sequential order.
2. Data Compression software: Squeeezes out the slack space .
 System Development Programs
• Programming Languages
1. Primary interface of a programmer with a computer
2. into three categories

Machine Language Assembly Language High-Level Language

 System Development Programs
• Language Translators
1. Computers understand languages consisting of 0’s and 1’s(machine
language).

Language Translators

Compilers Interpreters Assembler

 System Development Programs
• Language Translators
• Compilers
1. Translates the program code into machine
language.

2. The programs written any programming language

needs to be converted to binary form.
 System Development Programs
• Language Translators
• Interpreter
1. An interpreter is another type of language translator, which analyses
and executes the source code in line-by-line manner
• Assembler
1. Compared to all types of languages assembly language is closest to
the machine code.
2. However computer is still unable to understand it.
Source Program Object Code
If(1<b) Complier 1000101
Printf(“gfhsg”) 0101001
Else 1010000
Printf(“hfds”

Linker

Executable
Program

Loader

Memory
Linker and Loader
 Application Software
• It may consist of a single program such as a notepad for
writing and editing simple text.
• It may also consist of a collection of programs often called a
software package, such as a spreadsheet package.
• Application software may also include a larger collection of
programs and packages which have a common user interface
or shared data format such as Microsoft Office suite.
Application Software

System Software

Hardware