LESSON: 5

COMPUTER SOFTWARE

What is computer software?Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provides the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it. It enables the user to interact with a computer and its hardware. Eg. Windows, MS word etc.

What are the types of software?

What do you mean by System Software?The computer program which is designed to run a computer’s hardware and applications programs is called a system software. It acts as an interface between the device and the end user. It also provides the platform for running other softwares.eg. operating system, antivirus softwares etc.

What are the types of System Software?

What do you mean by Operating System?An operating system is the most important software that runs on a computer. It is not possible for the user to use any computer or mobile device without having an operating system.The operating system is the program which controls overall operations of the computer. It also manages the hardware of the computer. An operating system also provides us with services so that we can execute the application software. Eg. Linux, Unix, Microsoft Windows etc.

What do you mean by Utility Software?Utility software helps to manage, maintain and control computer resources. A utility or software utility is a system software intended to analyze, configure, monitor, or help maintain a computer. Usually, a utility is smaller than a standard program in size and may be included with an operating system or installed separately.Examples of utility programs are antivirus software, backup software and disk tools.

What do you mean by device driver?A device driver is a small piece of software that tells the operating system and other software how to communicate with a piece of hardware. A device driver is a computer program that controls a particular device that is connected to your computer. Typical devices are keyboards, printers, scanners, digital cameras and external storage devices. Each of these need a driver in order to work properly.

What do you mean by language processor?A language processor is a special type of a computer software that has the capacity of translator the source code or program codes into machine codes. The computer understands only machine languages. A program is cannot be run on a computer directly because of a program written in assembly or high-level language. For running the program on the computer needs to convert into machine language before execution. Language processor or translator is a software that is used to convert these program into machine language. Every computer language has its own translators.

What are the types of language processor?

Define assembler, compiler and interpreter.Compiler: Compiler is a translator which is used to convert programs in high level language to low level language. It translates the entire program at once.

Interpreter: Compiler is a translator which is used to convert programs in high level language to low level language. It translates the program line by line.

Assembler: Assembler is a translator which is used to translate the assembly language code into machine language code.

What is an application software?Application software, or app for short, is software that performs specific tasks for an end-user. For example, Microsoft Word or Excel are application software, as are common web browsers such as Firefox or Google Chrome.

It also includes the category of mobile apps, including communication apps such as WhatsApp or games such as Candy Crush Saga.

What are the types of application software?

Packaged / General Software

Customized/ Tailored Software

What are the differences between packaged software and customized software?