What is Software and its Types | Full Explanation - Learn With AVRK

Software 

The term "Software" means a collection of programs. A program is a set of logical commands that is required to carry out a particular task. Software is an important requirement of a computer system. As a car can't run without a driver, Similarly a computer machine can't work without a software. A set of commands that perform a particular task is called a program.

Basically there are two types of Software -

• System software 
•  Application Software

1. System Software -

System software is an interface between the hardware and the users. The system software is a collection of programs that governs the hardware operation and support the application software.

System software can we categorized under the following -

 I) Operating System : Communication between hardware, system programs and other applications.

 Ex- windows, linux, unix, android, IOS, etc.

II) Device Driver : Enables device communication with the operating system and other programs.

Example of devices which needs drivers -

• Mouse
• Keyboard
• Monitor
• Printer
• Sound card
• Network card  

III) Firmware : Firmware refers to a software which is permanently installed in a machine generally by the producer of that device. Without firmware software the electronic device will never work. Unlike standard software, firmware is meant to control, operate, or maintain the hardware in the background. It never interacts with users.

Ex - remote, digital watches, computer peripherals etc.

IV) Language Processor : Translates high-level programming languages to low-level machine codes.

Ex- Compiler, interpreter, Assembler, etc.

V) Utility : Ensures optimum functionality of devices and applications.

Ex- Anti virus, disk cleanup tool, disk defragmenter, file management system, backup utility.

2. Application Software 

Application software is a set of programs, written by a programmer to complete a given task. These  software usually came in the form of package program which deals with all the activities of a particular application. These programs do particular job for the users.

Ex - Microsoft office, Photoshop, Oracle are the some examples of the application software.

Application Software can be categorized under the following -

I) Presentation Software

Presentation software helps the presenter to present their ideas using text, audio, video, animation etc. With a visual information that can be easy to understand.

Ex- Microsoft power point, Apple keynote.

II) Spreadsheet Software

Spreadsheet software are used to perform  mathematical operations, manipulations and calculations.

Ex- Microsoft Excel, Lotus 1-2-3 for windows and mac.

III) Database Software

Database is a group of collected data related to any applications. Nowadays world's every application has some database where data is stored by the users. For this purpose, we used database software.

Ex- My SQL, Microsoft access, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle etc. Are the database software.

IV) Multimedia Software

Multimedia software are the combination of text, audio, video, animation and they are used to growth business, education, information, remote system and entertainment.

Ex- Many Applications are available for computer system like video and music entertainment app, social networking application, navigation app, news and weather application, educational apps and e-book reader app.

V) Word Processing Software

Word Processing software are used to manipulate, format the text, to create the documents, letters, and faxes etc.

Ex- Microsoft word, word pad, lotus word pro, Corel word perfect

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