Computer Software

TOPIC 3 COMPUTER SOFTWARE
LESSON 1: GENERAL OVERVIEW ON CS

Definition: 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.
I- SOFTWARE ATTRIBUTES AND SPECIFICATION

Good software possesses following characteristics:
 Functionality: The capability of the software product to provide functions which meet stated
and implied needs when the software is used under specified conditions (what the software does to fulfil
needs). Functionality refers to the suitability, the interoperability accuracy and the security.
 Reliability: The capability of the software product to maintain its level of performance under
stated conditions for a stated period of time. It is "the frequency and criticality of software failure. That is,
the maturity, the fault tolerance and the recoverability of the software.
 Usability: The capability of the software product to be understood, learned, used and attractive
to the user, when used under specified conditions (the effort needed for use). Reusability is "the easewith
which software can be reused in developing other software". Usability refers to understandability,
learnability and operability of the software.
 Efficiency: The capability of the software product to provide appropriate performance, relative
to the amount of resources used, under stated conditions. It is "the degree with which software fulfils its
purpose without waste of resources". It refers to time behaviour in performing the processes and best use
from resource behaviour.
 Maintainability: The capability of the software product to be modified. Modifications may
include corrections, improvements or adaptations of the software to changes in the environment and in the
requirements and functional specifications (the effort needed to be modified). It is "the ease with which
changes can be made to satisfy new requirements or to correct deficiencies. It refers to analysability,
changeability, stability and testability of the software.
 Portability: The capability of the software product to be transferred from one environment to
another. The environment may include organisational, hardware or software environment. That is the
adaptability, install ability, replace ability and interoperability of the software.
II- TYPES OF SOFTWARE

1- On the basis of the task performed:
Based upon the tasks performed, software is broadly classified into following two categories:
 System Software
Application Software
A. System software
Theyprovide the basic functions for computer usage; provide the necessary services for application
software and help run the computer hardware and system. They include:
 Operating systems
 Device drivers
 Utilities
 Windowing systems
 OPERATING SYSTEM
An operating system (OS) is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide
common services for application software.
The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system. A user cannot
run an application program on the computer without an operating system, unless the application program is self
booting. The operating system acts as an intermediary between application programs and the computer
hardware.
a) Functions of an Operating System (see form 1 or 2 )
The main functions of an Operating System are:
 File Management
 Process Management
 Memory Management
 Event Management
 Input/Output Device Management
 Provision of User interface
 Application and System Data Management
Security
b) Types of operating system ( just types and e.g. , for description see form 2 notes)
Operating systems can be classified into following categories:
Single user operating systems: They are OS which allow only one user to work on the system at
a time. Examples: MS DOS, OS/2,Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me.
Multi user operating systems: They are operating systems which allow multiple users to work
on the system simultaneously. Examples: Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Linux, Unix,
VMS, MAC/OS X, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8.
Single task operating systems: They allow user to execute only one program at a time. E.g.: MS
DOS. Note: DOS means Disk Operating System.
Multi task operating systems: They allow user to execute more than one program at a time.
Examples: Windows Me, Windows-XP, OS/2.
 Network operating systems: They include special functions, protocols and device drivers for
connecting the computers of the network. Examples: Windows-2000 server, Novell Netware.
Multiprocessing: Supports running a program on more than one CPU.
Multithreading: Allows different parts of a single program to run concurrently.
Followings are few examples of popular modern operating systems:
 Microsoft Windows (Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, etc)
 Linux (Ubuntu, Knoppix, Dreamlinux, etc.)
Android, BSD, iOS, OS X, QNX, Windows Phone, IBM z/OS, etc.
 DEVICE DRIVERS
They are programs necessary for particular pieces of hardware. A device driver is computer software that
enables one or more hardware devices to communicate with the computer's operating system. A hardware
device can not function without a device driver. When you purchase a printer, for example, it often comes with
a CD of software, which must be installed for the printer to function.
 UTILITIES
Utilities are designed to help analyse, configure, optimise or maintain a computer. These programs can be
described as extensions of system software features the user wished were part of the operating system, but
aren’t. In fact, many operating system features start off as utilities. Examples are: Windows Explorer
(File/Folder Management), Windows Media Player, Anti-Virus Utilities, Disk Defragmentation, Disk
Clean, Back-Up, etc.
B. Application software
Application software provides specific services to the user. Theyperform productive tasks for users; allow
them to accomplish one or more specific non-computer related tasks. They include:
 Word processing (allows a user to create, edit, and format textual documents)
 Spreadsheet software (provides a matrix of cells, in which each cell can be a number, a
line of text, or a calculation involving the values in other cells)
 Databases
 Publishing software
 Image editing (Example: Adobe’s Photoshop)
 Industrial automation
 Business software
 Educational software
 Medical software
 Computer games
 Communication software
 Enterprise software
 Financial software tracks a user’s financial accounts or prepares finance-related
paperwork, such as tax forms. Examples are: Intuit’s Quicken, Microsoft’s Money, and Kiplinger’s
TaxCut.
Etc.
NB: The software that is built into hardware is called firmware. An example of computer firmware is the
BIOS: Basic Input Output System. It is this software that holds instructions necessary for computer to boot.
 Programming software
They are viewed as middleware and usually provide tools to assist a programmer in writing computer
programs and software using different programming languages in a more convenient way. The tools include:
 Text editors
Compilers
 Interpreters
 Linkers
 Debuggers
 Etc
 Suites software
A suite is a set of applications that is sold as one package. That is, multiple application software written
and put together so that they can be handled as one software.
Suites usually offer several advantages to the consumer. The price of the suite, for instance, is usually
much lower than the price of the individual applications, and because the programs are produced by the same
developer, they can be made to interoperate.
Examples of suite software are Microsoft Office, Open Office, Sun Star Office, etc.
2- Other classifications of software

 General purpose software (GPS): also known as "off-the-shelf" is software used for
any general function. It allows people to do simple computer tasks. General purpose software is used in
homes, small offices, and schools. Examples include word processors, spreadsheets, databases, desktop
publishing packages, graphics packages etc.
 Specific function software: they are highly specialised software that is designed to
handle specific tasks. They are more limited in what they can do, but they usually perform much better
than a general purpose program in a specific task.
 Tailor Made Software or Bespoke software or Custom software: is software that is
specially developed for some specific organisation.
The software will be tailor made to fit the needs of the company. Most organisations use general purpose
software, but sometimes the general purpose software is not exactly as they would have liked it to be. It is in
such cases that they prefer software specially designed in accordance with particular preferences and
expectations of the company. Custom software has predefined specifications that may or may not cater to any
specific user's requirements. When you buy it, you agree to its license agreement.
 Freeware: is software that is available for use at no monetary cost or for an optional fee,
but usually closed source with one or more restricted usage rights. In other words, it is Copyrighted
software given away for free by the author.
Although it is available for free, the author retains the copyright, which means that you cannot do
anything with it that is not expressly allowed by the author. Usually, the author allows people to use the
software, but not sell it. You are also free to distribute it to anyone you want, provided the distribution is an
unmodified version of what you downloaded from the provider’s web site. In fact they encourage you to
distribute their Freeware. Freeware is provided on an "as is" basis and no technical support is usually
available.
 Shareware: is commercial software that is copyrighted, but which may be copied for
others for the purpose of their trying it out with the understanding that they will pay for it if they
continue to use it.
The developer usually allows users to make copies of trial version without an initial charge. However, if
the user intends to use it beyond a brief tryout, the developer requests that the program be paid for. Shareware
has also been known as 'try before you buy', demoware, trialware and by other names.
Retail Software: is software on physical data storage media sold to end consumers, usually under restricted
licenses. It comes factory sealed retail boxes with the software on CD or DVD, plus the software license key
and manuals where provided by the software vendor.

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TOPIC 3 COMPUTER SOFTWARE

LESSON 1: GENERAL OVERVIEW ON CS

I- SOFTWARE ATTRIBUTES AND SPECIFICATION

II- TYPES OF SOFTWARE

2- Other classifications of software

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