What is Software???
Definition:
Organized information in the form of operating systems, utilities, programs, and applications that enable computers to work.
Software consists of carefully-organized instruction and code written by programmers in any of various special computer languages. Software is divided commonly into two main categories:
- System Software:
System software is responsible for controlling, integrating, and managing the individual hardware components of a computer system so that other software and the users of the system see it as a functional unit without having to be concerned with the low-level details such as transferring data from memory to disk, or rendering text onto a display. Generally, system software consists of an operating system and some fundamental utilities such as disk for-matters file managers, display managers, text editors, user authentication (login) and management tools, and networking and device control software.
- Application Software:
Application software, on the other hand, is used to accomplish specific tasks other than just running the computer system. Application software may consist of a single program, such as an image viewer; a small collection of programs (often called a software package) that work closely together to accomplish a task, such as a spreadsheet or text processing system; a larger collection (often called a software suite) of related but independent programs and packages that have a common user interface or shared data format, such as Microsoft Office, which consists of closely integrated word processor, spreadsheet, database, etc.; or a software system, such as a database management system, which is a collection of fundamental programs that may provide some service to a variety of other independent applications.
Software is created with programming languages and related utilities, which may come in several of the above forms: single programs like script interpreters, packages containing a compiler, linker, and other tools; and large suites (often called Integrated Development Environments) that include editors, debuggers, and other tools for multiple languages.
Computer Software Packages:
- Operating systems - In computing, an operating system (OS) is the system software responsible for the direct control and management of hardware and basic system operations.
- Graphics programs - A graphics program is a piece of computer software that enables a user to modify or view graphics files.
- Office applications and suites - Office applications suite, also called Offimatic Suite, is a set of computer programs suitable for typical office work.
- Utilities and tools
- Collaborative software - Collaborative software, also known as groupware, is software that integrates work on a single project by several concurrent users at separated workstations.
- Computer games
