Software

Chapter 4
 Software

Software is a set of instruction that tells a computer

exactly what to do.

 Computer consists of both hardware and software

 Hardware is a physical parts of computer such as
keyboard, CPU, monitor and so on.
 Hardware can not perform any task without software.
 software can not be executed without hardware.
 Software : Software types
Software

System Software Application Software

 Word processor
 Spread sheet
 Web browser
 Database
Operating Utility Device  Game
System Programs Driver
 Software : Software types
General feature of system Software
 Set of programs to control and manage the operation of
computer hardware
 Provide a platform on which other software can run without
problems
 Provides a human computer interface
 Controls the allocation and usage of hardware resources

General feature of Application Software

 Allows a user to perform specific tasks using the computer’s
resources
 May be a single program or a suite of programs
 User can execute the software as and when they require
 Software : Application Software

Word Processor is used to SpreadSheet is used to organize DataBase is used to organize,

manipulate a text document and manipulate numerical data. manipulate and analyze data.
Database stored data in table
It includes: It includes: format.
 Creating, editing and  Use of formulas to carry
saving text out calculations It includes:
 Copy and paste functions  Ability to produce graphs  Ability to carry out queries
 Spell checker  Ability to do modelling and on data and produce a
 Import image into a what if calculations report
structured page format  Add, delete and modify
 Translation into foreign data in a table
language
 Software : Application Software

Apps refers to a software which Photo Editing Software is used Video Editing Software is used to
runs on mobile phones or tablets to manipulate digital photographs manipulate videos to produce a new
stored on a computer. video.
It includes:
 Video and music It includes : It includes:
streaming  Ability to change brightness  Rearranging, adding and
 GPS removing section of video clips
and contrast, alter colors
 Camera facility and audio clips
and remove red-eye
 Applying colors correction,
filter and other video
enhancements
 Creating transitions between
clips in the video footage
Software : Application Software
Control and Measuring software is designed to allow a
computer or microprocessor to interface with sensors

It includes:
 Measuring physical quantities in the real world
 To control applications by comparing sensor data with
stored data and sending out signals to alter process
parameters
 Software : System Software

Operating System

Utilities program

System Software
Device Driver

Linkers

Compilers
 Software : Utilities Software

• Utilities software are programs that help to maintain or optimize, manage and control computer
resources.
• Utility programs are often initiated by the user, but some often just run in the background
without the need for user input.
 Virus checker
 Defragmentation software
 Back-up software
 Security
 Screen saver
 Disk contents analysis and repair
 File compression and file management
 Software : Utilities Software
Virus checkers ( anti-virus software)
• Any computer can be subject to a virus attack.
• operation system offer virus checker, but these must be kept up to date and should run in the
background to guard against being infected by malware

 Check file or software or files before they are run or

loaded on a computer
 Compare a possible virus against a database of
Anti-virus software is a software
known virus
that quarantines and deletes files  Carry out heuristic checking : this is checking
or program infected by computer
software for types of behavior that could indicate a
virus; the software can run in the
possible virus
background or be initiated by the Common  The possible infected files or programs are put into
user features quarantine which allow the virus to be automatically
delete or the user to make decision about deletion
 Anti-virus software needs to kept up to date since
new viruses are constantly discovered
 Full system checks need to be carried out once a
week
 Software : Utilities Software

Defragmentation software
 As a HDD becomes full, blocks of files will become scattered all over the disk surface.
 The consequence of this is slower data access time because the read-write head of HDD will
now require several movements to find and retrieve the data making up the required file
 Defragmentation is a process that reorganizes sectors on a HDD by rearranging blocks of data
so that they are contiguous.
 Thus defragmentation software reduce the HDD head movements.
A1 B1 A2 C1 B2 C2 A3

A1 A2 A3 B1 B2 C1 C2
 Software : Utilities Software
Back-up software
 Back-up software make copies of files onto another storage media in case the
original file become corrupted or is deleted
 This utilities software will
 Allow a schedule for backing up files to be made
 Only carry out a back-up procedure if there have been any changes made to a file.
 For total security there should be three version of a file:
 The current version stored on the internal HDD or SSD
 A locally backed up copy of the file stored on portable SSD
 A remote back-up version stored away from computer (cloud)

Microsoft window offers the following facilities using back-up utility

 Restore data, file or the computer from the back-up
 Create a restore point
Window use file History, which take the snapshots of file and stores them on an HDD at
regular intervals
 Software : Utilities Software
Security Software
Manage access control
and user accounts

Links into other utilities

software ,such as virus Oversees the updating
checker or spyware software

Use encryption and

Protects network
decryption to prevent
interface (firewall)
any interception
 Software : Utilities Software
Screen Saver
 A software that supplies a still or moving image on a monitor if a computer has
been inactive for a period of time.
 Screen Saver are used as a part of the computer’s security system.
 If a computer is unused for five minutes, the computer user will be
automatically logged out and the screen saver will indicate that the computer
are locked.
 Some screen savers are often used to activate useful background tasks that
only go on when the computer is in an idle state.
 Software : Device Driver
 A software that communicate with the operating system and translate data into a format understood
by a hardware peripheral device
 Without device driver, a hardware device would be unable to work with computer
 All USB device driver contain a collection of information about devices called descriptors
 Descriptors include vendor id (VID), product id (PID) and unique serial numbers.
 If a device has no serial number, the OS will treat the device as new it is plugged into a USB port
 Software : Operating System
 To enable computer systems to function correctly and allow users to
communicate with computer systems, an operating system need to
be installed.
 OS provides both the environment in which applications can be run
and a useable interface between computer and user.
 OS hide the complexity of hardware and software
 Without an operating system, a computer can't be used since the
computer's hardware won't be able to communicate with the software
 Most computer store OS on a HDD or SSD.
• Os perform
 Human Computer Interface
 Memory management
 Hardware peripheral management
 File management
 Multitasking
 Management of user account
 Interrupt handling routines
 Software : Operating System

Human Computer Interface (HCI)

An interface supplied by OS to hide the complexities of hardware and software from the users
HCI is in the form of a Command Line Interface (CLI) and Graphical User Interface (GUI)

Command Line Interface (CLI) Graphical User Interface (GUI)

 An interface which allows  An interface that uses icons to represent apps and tasks
communication with the computer by which the user can select by clicking on a mouse or using a
typing in command using a keyboard touch screen. GUI use various technologies and devices to
 CLI is used by programmer, analyst or provide user interface
technician who needs to have a direct Window icons menu and pointing device (WIMP)
communication with a computer to  An interface that uses pointing devices such as a mouse to
develop software, locate errors and select options from screen icons or a menu.
remove them Post-WIMP
 A modern touch screen interface system that allows actions
such as rotating
GUI is used by the end-user who doesn’t have any knowledge of
how the computer work.
 Software : Operating System

Interface Advantages Disadvantages

Command Line Interface (CLI)  The user is in direct communication  The user need to learn a
with the computer number of commands to carry
 The user is not restricted to a out basic operations
number of pre-determined options  All commands need to be typed
 It is possible to alter computer in which takes time and can be
configuration settings error-prone
 Uses a small amount of computer  Each command must be typed
memory in using the correct format,
spelling and so on
Graphical User Interface (GUI)  The user doesn’t need to learn any  This interface uses up more
commands computer memory than CLI
 It is more user-friendly ; icon are  The user is limited to the icons
used to represent applications provided on the screen
 A pointing device is used to click on  Needs OS such as windows to
an icon to launch application operate which uses up
considerable memory
 Software : Operating System
Memory Management
• Memory management carries out the following functions
• Manages the primary storage (RAM) and allow data to be moved between RAM and HDD/SSD during
the execution of program
• Keep track of all the memory location
• Carries out memory protection to ensure that two competing applications cannot use the same memory
locations at the same times: If this wasn’t done the following might happen:
 Data would probably be lost
 Applications could produce incorrect results
 Potential security issues
 The computer could crash
 Software : Operating System
Security Management
• The function of security management is to ensure the integrity, confidentiality and availability of data
• This can be achieved as follows:
 By carrying out OS and anti-virus software update as and when they become available
 By communicating with a firewall to check all traffic to and from the computer
 By marking use of privileges to prevent users entering private area on computer that permit multi-
user
 By maintaining access rights for all users
 By offering the ability for the recovery of data when it has been lost or corrupted
 By helping to prevent illegal intrusion into the computer system
 Software : Operating System
Hardware Peripheral Management
 Communicates with all input and output devices using device drivers
 Uses a device driver to take data from a file and translate it into a format that input/output device can
understand
 Ensure each hardware resources has a priority so that they can be used and released as required
 Manages input/output devices by controlling queues and buffers

File Management
 The main task of file management includes:
 File naming conventions which can be used eg. filename.docx
 Performing specific task. ( create, open, close, delete, rename, copy , move)
 Maintaining the directory structures
 Ensuring access control are maintained. ( password protection or access rights to files)
 Ensuring the memory allocation for a file by reading it from HDD/SSD and loading it into memory
 Software : Operating System
Multitasking
 Multitasking allows computers to carry out more than one task at a time.
 Each of the processes will share the hardware resources under the control of the operating
software
 To make sure that multitasking operates correctly, the OS need to constantly monitor the
status of each of the processes under its controls:
 Resources are allocated to a process for a specific time limit
 The process can be interrupted while it is running
 The process is given a priority so it can have resources according to its priority

Spreadsheet Email Web browser

Operating System

CPU
 Software : Operating System
Management of user account
• Computer allow more than one user to log onto the system.
• Therefore the user’s data is stored separate parts of memory for security reasons.
• User account is protected by a username and password
• The OS is given the task of managing these different user accounts
• Customize their screen layout and other settings
• Use separate folders and files and to manage these themselves.
 Software : Operating System
Running of Application
 The start-up of the computer’s motherboard is handled by the basic input/output system (BIOS).
 When you power on your Computer, BIOS is loaded first.
 It scans all the attached devices ( eg. network card, RAM etc) and prepares them to be in a form that the operating
system can use.
 The BIOS tells the computer where the storage device that holds the OS can be found , it then load the part of OS
that is needed and executes it.
 When a computer starts up, part of OS need to be loaded into RAM-this is known as booting up the computer
or( boot loader or bootstrap loader).
 The application software will be under the control of the OS and will need to access system software such as the
device drivers while it is running.
 Different parts of OS may need to be loaded in and out of RAM as the software runs.

BIOS is often referred to as firmware.

Firmware is defined as a program that provides low level control for devices
BIOS program is stored in a special type of ROM, called EEPROM
While the BIOS is stored on an EEPROM, the BIOS settings are stored on a CMOS chip.
 Application

0s

Interface between os and

BIOS / Firmware
hardware

Hardware
 Software : Interrupt
• is a signal sent from a device or from software to the processor.
• will cause the processor to temporarily stop what it is doing and service the interrupt.
• The interrupt handler is the part of the operating system which is responsible for dealing with
interrupt signals.
• The interrupt handler prioritizes interrupt as they are received.
• For every interruption, the current task needs to be stopped, with it’s status saved (so it can resume
later).
• allow computers to carry out many tasks at the same time.
• can occur when, for example:
• A timing signal
• a disk drive is ready to receive more data ( an input/output process)
• an error has occurred, such as a paper jam in a printer (hardware fault)
• the user has pressed a key to interrupt the current process ( Ctrl+Alt+Break)
• a software error has occurred
 Buffer
• is a temporary memory area in computer .
• Act as the holding area for data
• Used to compensate the speed difference between CPU
(fast) and hardware(slow)
• Data from processor or memory unit to be sent to a
hardware is sent to buffer
• The hardware can get data from buffer and the
processor can carry out other task.
• Example streaming a video from the internet

Without buffers, the movie 0 1 0 1111……………….111

would frequently freeze.
How buffers and interrupts are used when a document
is sent to a printer for printing

The processor
continuous with its task

NO
Any data YES The contents of buffer are
The print data is sent to
sent to emptied to the printer and
the buffer from memory
printer? printing take place

The processor can carry NO All data

out other task while the sent to
buffer are being emptied printer?

YES
When all data have been printed,
The current task is
an interrupt signal send to the
stopped temporarily and
processor to request more data
the interrupt is served.
to be printed.
 Software : Operating System
Multitasking
 Allow computer to carry out more than one task at a time.
 Each of processes will be share the hardware resource (RAM and CPU) under control of
OS.