Types Of Software

Types of Software

A computer system consists of hardware and software for its proper functioning.

Hardware

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

Software

A software refers to a set of programs which is capable of performing some specific task on a computer system. It tells the computer what to do and how to do.The software are categorised into two types-System Software and Application Software.

System Software

A computer is merely a machine that knows nothing of itself. Rather it requires instruction for each and everything it performs. These instruction are provided to it through software. The software that controls internal computer operations (viz. reading data from input devices, transmitting processed information to the output devices, checking system components, converting the data/instruction to computer understandable from etc.) is known as system software.

Function of System Software

• It controls and manages the operation of a computer hardware.
• It enables application program to executes properly.
• Allocating system resources-The system resources are time, memory, input, and output. The time in the CPU is divided into time slices. The time slices is measured in terms of milliseconds. Based on the priority of tasks the time slices are assigned. Memory is also managed by operating system. Disk space is the part of main memory. The data flow is controlled by operating system.
• File and disk management-The user needs to save, copy, delete, move and rename the files. The system software will handle those functions. Disk and file management is the technical task.
• Monitoring system activities-The system security and system performance is monitored by system software. System performance includes response time and CPU utilization. System security is a part of operating system. Multiple users can’t access without the security code or password.

Types of System software-

1. OS (operating system)
2. Utility Program
3. Device driver
4. Language translator

1. Operating System-An operating system (OS) is a type of system software that manages computer’s hardware and software resources. It provides common services for computer programs. An OS acts a link between the software and the hardware. It controls and keeps a record of the execution of all other programs that are present in the computer, including application programs and other system software.

An operating system is an important component of a computer system which controls all other components of the computer system.Major components of a computer system are-

• The Hardware
• The Operating system
• The Application program routines (compiler, linkers, database management systems, utility programs)
• The Humanware (user)

2. Utility Program- It is a system software that performs a specific task which mainly related to the managements of computer. It is same like tool-kit. Some utilities help you backup data, some help remove outdated files or recover data that has been erased by mistake.

Some important utilities are as followed-

• Text Editor
• Backup Utility program
• Compression Utility
• Disk Defragmentor
• Antivirus Software

3. Language Translator-It translate programming code into the machine code. So, that computer can understand it and can process further. Computer converts the High Level Language into Machine Language (binary language i.e, 0 and 1)

The language processors are given below-

• Assembler
• Interpreter
• Compiler 

4. Device Driver-A device driver is a software program that controls a particular types of (or) specific type of hardware.

Examples: Sound card driver, video card driver, etc.

Application Software

A program or a set of program that are specially designed to solve the specific problems of the users are known as application software.The application software is categorised into two types- Basic Application Software and Specialized Application Software.

1. Basic Application Software-They are the general purpose application. General application are known as packages. Most common categories of packages are word processor graphics, presentation software etc.

    2. Specialized Application Software-They are the special purpose software.They are designed to do specific tasks e.g., payroll, library      management etc.