Software

CS-103
1-1 Advance Certificate in Information Technology
 What is software
A computer cannot do anything on its own.
 It must be instructed to do a desired job.
 Hence its necessary to specify a sequence of
instructions that a computer must perform to solve a
problem.
 Such a sequence of instruction written in a language
that can be understood by a computer called a
computer program.
 The set of computer programs, procedures, and
associated documents (flowcharts, manuals etc..) that
describe the programs and how they are to be used
called “SOFTWARE”.
1-2
 Relationship between
hardware and software
 In order for a computer to produce useful output, the
hardware and software must work together.
 The same hardware can be loaded with different
software to make a computer system perform
different types of jobs.
 Except for upgrade, hardware is normally a one-time
expense, where as software is a continuing expense.

1-3
 Relationship between
hardware and software
Users

Other System
Software and application
Operating System

Computer Hardware

1-4
 Types of software
 Software can be divided into two categories:
 System software
 Application software

Software

Application Software System Software

Horizontal Vertical Applications

Applications
 System Software
 System software is a set of one or more programs
designed to control the operation and extend the
processing capability of a computer system.
 Four kind of system software programs include:
 Operating systems.
 Utilities
 Device drivers.
 Language translators
 Operating Systems
 Operating Systems are programs that coordinate
computer resources, provide an interface between
users and the computer, and run applications.
 Functions of OS includes:
 Managing resources.
 Provide user interface.
 Running application.
 Operating Systems
 Four basic categories of OS.
 Embedded OS :- are used for handheld computers
and smaller devices such as PDAs.
 Network OS:- (NOS) are used to control and
coordinate computers that are linked together.
 Stand alone OS:- also called desktop OS, control a
single desktop or notebook computers.
 Client OS:- is desktop OS that is concerned to, or
share a NOS and includes programs on a computer to
help organize a great amount of data.
 Example of Operating
Systems
 MAC OS
 Design to run Macintosh computers.
 Market share is less compare to windows.
 Powerful and easy to use.
 Unique features in Mac Os
 Aqua is intuitive user interface.
 Dock provides a flexible
 Sherlock locates information on the web as well as on
the user’s computer system.
 Example of Operating
Systems
 MS-DOS
 MS-DOS was the first popular OS for the IBM PC. It
employs a command line interface.
 Example of Operating
Systems
 Windows
 Most popular microcomputer OS today is MS
Windows.
 Windows is designed to run with Intel and Intel
compatible microprocessors such as Pentium IV.
 Comes in variety of different versions.
 Windows provide GUI called desktop.
 Windows use icons, small graphical representations
of programs to aid in navigating the OS
Windows XP
 Example of Operating
Systems
 Unix and Linux
 Unix OS was originally designed to run on
computers on network environment.
 It is also used by powerful microprocessors and by
servers on the web
 Linux is free and available from many sources.
(encourage further development)
 Linux Torvalds developed Linux in 1991
Operating System Services
 Program Execution:- system capability to load a program into
memory and to run it.
 I/O operations:- since user programs cannot execute I/O
operations directly, the OS must provide some means to
perform I/O.
 File system manipulation:- program capability to read, write,
create, and delete files
 Communications:- exchange of information between processes
executing either on the same computer or different systems tied
together by a network.
 Error detection:- ensure correct computing by detecting errors
in the CPU and memory hardware, in I/O devices, or in user
programs.
 Utility programs
 Utility programs are a set of programs that help users in system
maintenance tasks and in performing tasks of routing nature.
 Some of the tasks commonly performed by utility programs
include the following:
 Formatting hard disks
 Reorganizing files on a hard disk to converse storage
space.
 Taking backup of files stored on hard disk on to an
external storage device.
 Search a particular file from directory of thousands of
files.
 Checking the amount of available memory.
 Checking the amount of available storage space on hard
disk.
 Reducing the file size for efficient transmission over a
data communication link.
 Windows Utilities
 Windows OS are accompanied with several utility
programs.
 Backup is a utility program that makes a copy of
selected or all files that have been saved onto a disk.
 Disk Cleanup is a troubleshooting utility that
identifies and eliminates nonessential files.
 Disk Defragmenter is a utility program that locates
and eliminates unnecessary fragments and rearranges
files and unused disk space to optimize operation.
 Device Drivers
 Device drivers are specialized programs that allows
devices such as a mouse or keyboard to communicate
with the rest of the computer system.
 Whenever a new device is added to a computer
system, a new device driver must be installed before
the device can be used.
 If a particular device driver is not included, the
product manufacture will supply one.
 Sometimes drivers are available directly from the
manufacture’s web site.
 Language Translators
 Computer can only understand a language consisting
of 0’s and 1’s called machine language.
 Language Translators convert human oriented
programming languages to machine language.
 These translators are indispensable tool for
developing new software application and for
maintaining existing applications.
 Compilers: compiles the whole program at once.
 Interpreter: executes one statement at a time.
 Application Software
 The term applications software refers generally to all
the program that enable computer users to apply
computer to the work they do.
 You startup all application software through your
operating system (system software).
 Application programs fall into two categories.
 Horizontal Applications.
 Vertical Applications.
 Horizontal Applications
 Horizontal Applications are used across the
functional divisions of a company.
 The most popular horizontal applications are called
Personal Productivity Programs
 They are general purpose programs that address the
needs of many people, such as:
 Writing (word processing)
 Working with numbers (Spreadsheets)
 Keeping track of information (databases)
 Prepare presentations (Power Point)
 Communication (Internet Explorer)
 Vertical Applications
 Vertical applications are designed for a particular line
of business or a division in a company.
 For example: programs are available to handle the
billing needs of medical officer, manage restaurants.
 Vertical applications designed for professional and
business use may cost much more than horizontal
applications.
???????????????????????????????????
???????????????????????????????????
???????????????????????????????????
???????????????????????????????????
???????????????????????????????????
???????????????????????????????????
???????????????????????????????????
???????????????????????????????????
???????????????????????????????????
???????????????????????????????????