[Computer] Software [Computer] Software

 Instructs the computer what to do.

 Two categories of Software

 General term for a variety of – System Software

procedures and routines that harness
the computational power of a computer.
– Application Software

 Programs installed in the computer

SYSTEM SOFTWARES SYSTEM SOFTWARES

 Three categories of System

 Programs that assist the execution of
other programs and directs the internal
Software
operations of the computer.
 Operating System
 All programs related to coordinating  Programming Language
computer operations. Translators
 Utility Programs

OPERATING SYSTEM OPERATING SYSTEM (OS)

 Software in the background

 Similar to a government, it provides the
 A set of programs that lies between means for the proper use of computer
application software and the hardware. resources in the operation of the
computer system.
 The fundamental software that controls
access to all other hardware and
software resources.

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 Examples of OS Examples of OS
MS-DOS MICROSOFT WINDOWS
 Introduced in 1980s
 Defined the operating environment
 Command-line
standard for computers with Intel
processors.
Example: C:\>

C:\ -- refers to the hard drive  GUI, pop-up windows, pull-down or

> -- refers to the prompt, a signal that the (computer) system is
expecting you to do something. drop-down menus

 PnP – Plug and Play

Examples of OS Examples of OS
MAC OS UNIX
 Apple’s Macintosh Operating System
 Multiuser time-sharing OS
 Introduced in 1984 along with
Macintosh microcomputer  Developed in 1971 by Ken Thompson
and Dennis Ritchie at AT&T’s Bell
 Had the first commercially successful Laboratories
GUI and quickly gained reputation for
user friendliness.

LINUX UTILITY PROGRAMS

 Developed by Linus Torvalds in 1991

 Designed to perform certain housekeeping
 An open-source software and maintenance tasks.

 Linux users form a close-knit  Perform jobs such as troubleshooting

community (online) hardware, inspecting diskettes from
damage, file conversion, defragmenting,
data compression, and file spooling.
 Disadvantage: scarcity of
application

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UTILITY PROGRAMS LANGUAGE TRANSLATOR
1. File Manager
1. Enables user to store files in a hierarchical
directory structure that is organized in a way that
 Translates programs written in a
makes sense to the user variety of programming
languages into machine
2. Backup and Restore
language.
3. Device Driver
4. Anti-Virus Software
5. Etc.

First Generation
Computer Language

– Called Machine Language

– Uses binary numbers/codes
– Difficult to use and understand
– Time consuming
– Filled with errors

APPLICATION APPLICATION PROGRAMS

SOFTWARES
 Word Processing
1. Word Processing – Program that automate the creation, editing and
printing of documents (letters, reports, manuscripts,
2. Spreadsheet etc.) by electronically processing text data (words,
3. Presentation phrases, sentences, etc.) for a user.

4. Desktop Publishing Examples:

5. Database Management  MSOffice Word
System  OpenOffice Writer

6. Games and Entertainment

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APPLICATION PROGRAMS APPLICATION PROGRAMS
 Spreadsheet  Presentation
– Program that display worksheet of rows and – Program used to create presentations for
columns where a user can insert data and displaying texts, pictures and graphics.
formulate a model of the user’s problem – Provides simple animation effects for creativity
(bookkeeping, planning, etc.)
– May also be integrated with sounds.

Examples:
Examples:
MSOffice Excel MSOffice PowerPoint
OpenOffice Calc OpenOffice Impress

APPLICATION PROGRAMS APPLICATION PROGRAMS

 Desktop Publishing  Database
– Programs used in creating and editing pictures or – A collection of data/information.
photos
– Could be extremely large, such as database of an
Examples:
airline or bank; or very small, such as one that
MS Paint keeps a list of students in a school.
Adobe Photoshop
Corel Draw
Examples
MS Access
Oracle 8i

APPLICATION PROGRAMS
 Games and Entertainment
– Programs used mainly for games and entertainment.

– Usually integrated with graphics (colors and pictures)

and sounds.

Examples:
– Games (DOTA, MineSweeper, Solitaire, Spacewar,
etc.)
– Entertainment (Windows Media Player, iTunes, etc.)