Software, on a broader perspective, refers to any electronic media content. The term computer software is a term used to refer to computer programs, procedures, and documentation that perform specific tasks on a computer system. This term is also used to describe application software or productivity software, system software such as computer operating systems, and middleware – software that manages and coordinates distributed systems.
Computer software is may be viewed as the language of computers. There is a wide variety of software available and these are categorized into three different types: system software, application software, and programming software.
computers “remember” things in the form of discrete entries: the input of quantities, graphics, words, etc. Each item is separable, perhaps designated by a unique address or file name, and all of it subject to total recall. Unless the machine malfunctions, it can regurgitate everything it has stored exactly as it was entered, whether a single number or a lengthy document. This is what we expect of the machine. Human memory, on the other hand, is the invisible psychic adhesive that holds our identity together from moment to moment. This makes it a radically different phenomenon from computer memory. For one thing, it is fluid rather than granular, more like a wave than a particle. Like a wave, it spreads through the mind, puddling up here and there in odd personal associations that may be of the most inexplicable kind. It flows not only through the mind, but through the emotions, the senses, the body. We remember things as no computer can—in our muscles and reflexes: how to swim, play an instrument, use a tool.
—Theodore Roszak (b. 1933)
System software runs the computer system including all the hardware devices contained within the system. This software is used by the computer to interpret input from external sources into something a machine can understand. Software works with the computer’s hardware components and includes the computer’s operating system, diagnostic tools, device drivers, utilities and more. One may automatically think of computer operating systems when the words software system are mentioned – operating systems run the computer. The most popular operating systems today are those manufactured by Microsoft. Other competing operating systems are open source OSs such as Linux and Unix.
Programming Software provides tools that assist programmers in creating computer software and programs. These software tools use different programming languages and include text editors, interpreters, compilers, linkers, and debuggers. All these tools are merged into a software bundle through an integrated development environment or IDE. These IDEs have a graphical user interface that makes programming easier by eliminating the need for programmers to type in numerous commands in order to compile, interpret, debug, trace, and perform other tasks on their code.
Pinball games were constrained by physical limitations, ultimately by the physical laws that govern the motion of a small metal ball. The video world knows no such bounds. Objects fly, spin, accelerate, change shape and color, disappear and reappear. Their behavior, like the behavior of anything created by a computer program, is limited only by the programmer’s imagination. The objects in a video game are representations of objects. And a representation of a ball, unlike a real one, never need obey the laws of gravity unless its programmer wants it to.
—Sherry Turkle, U. S. psychologist, sociologist. Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit, ch. 2, Simon & Schuster (1984)
Application software provides a way for computer users to complete specific tasks. Common applications include medical software, databases, computer games, industrial automation, educational, and business software programs. The different types of application software may be further subdivided into productivity software – also known as tools, this includes programs that may be used to produce spreadsheets, documents, databases and other products. The most commonly used productivity software is MS Office from Microsoft; educational software – includes programs that provide an alternative method to teaching. This includes drill and practice programs, problem solving programs, tutorials, presentation programs, and references; multimedia – generally includes any software program that is used to view or edit pictures, sound clips, video clips, graphics and other related content; and games – as the name suggests, games are computer programs mainly used as a manner of entertainment.
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