COMPUTER SOFTWARE
Computer software- a set of electronic instructions or collection of programs which tells your computer how to do a task. So, without software a computer is useless.
That means, if your computer has no software installed in it, it cannot work. Depending on the type of software that is missing, you will not be able to do some of the tasks.
Hardware and software are complimentary to each other. Both have to work together to produce meaningful results.
Software can be categorized into two main types:
a) Operating Systems software
b) Application Software
System Software
Define an operating system as a Special Piece of Software that manages the general operation of a computer system.
- It provides a user interface so that we can interact with the computer.
- It manages applications that are running on the computer, starting them when the user requests and stopping them when they are no longer needed.
- It manages files, helping us save our work, organize our files, find files that we have saved and load files.
- It manages the computer’s memory, deciding what should be loaded into memory and what should be removed
- It looks after computer security, preventing unauthorized access to the system
- It manages the computer’s input and output hardware such as printers.
Application software
Application software is a set of one or more programs designed to carry out operations for a specific application.
Application software cannot run on itself but is dependent on operating System to execute. Application software are such as Word-Processor, Spreadsheets and Databases.
Word processing software: The main purpose of this software is to produce documents. MS-Word, Word Pad, Notepad and some other text editors are some of the examples of word processing software.
Database software: Database is a collection of related data. The purpose of this software is to organize and manage data.
The advantage of this software is that you can change the way data is stored and displayed. MS access, dBase, FoxPro, Paradox, and Oracle are some of the examples of database software.
Spread sheet software: The spread sheet software is used to maintain budget, financial statements, grade sheets, and sales records. The purpose of this software is organizing numbers.
It also allows the users to perform simple or complex calculations on the numbers entered in rows and columns. MS-Excel is one of the examples of spreadsheet software.
Presentation software: This software is used to display the information in the form of slide show.
The three main functions of presentation software is editing that allows insertion and formatting of text, including graphics in the text and executing the slide shows.
The best example for this type of application software is Microsoft PowerPoint.
Multimedia software: Media players and real players are the examples of multimedia software.
This software will allow the user to create audio and videos. The different forms of multimedia software are audio converters, players, burners, video encoders and decoders
QUESTIONS
What do you understand by the term Computer Software?
From your experience, what happens when a computer has no Software installed?
What do you understand by the term Operating System?
What do you understand by the term Application Software?
REFERENCES
1. Stephen, M. (2003). Basic Computer Skills. London, Great Britain: Hodder Education.
2. French, C. (1992). Computer Science. London, Great Britain: Guernsey Press Co LTD.
3. Fishpool, M. (2007). BTEC National for IT practitioners Core. London, Great Britain:
Hodder Education.
Richards, R.P. & Heathcote, P.M. (2001). Information and Communication Technology.
London, Great Britain: Payne-Gallway Publishers Limited.
Driscoll, T. & Dolden, B. (2009). Computer Studies and Information Technology. London, Great Britain: McMillan Publishers Limited.