Whati

sSof
twar
e?
Beforewedi veintothefourt
ypesofsof tware,let’
sbriefl
ylookatwhatsof twareis.
Obviously,
ifyouwer etoaskyourf av
oritecomput erprogrammerf oradef i
nit
ionof
sof
twar e,i
twoul dbemuchmor ecompl exthant hi
s,butati t
score,soft
wareisa
comput erprogram oranappli
cationthatprovidesinstruct
ionstoexecuteauser ’
s
commands.Ev eryti
mey oucheckt heweat herony ourphone, y
ouar eusingsoftware.
Whenev eryouopenamessageonFacebook, createabudgetspr eadsheet,orjoi
na
Zoom call,youareusingsoft
war e.

WhatAr
ethe4Mai
nTy
pesofSof
twar
e?
Nowthatwe’
vecov
eredt
hebasi
cdef
ini
ti
onofsof
twar
e,let’
slookatt
hef
ourmai
n
t
ypesofsof
twar
eandhowtheyar
eusedinl
i
feandinbusiness.

Appl
i
cat
ionSof
twar
e

Thisist hemostcommont ypeofcomput ersoft

war e,andcanbedef i
nedasend- user
programst hathelpyouper f
ormt asksorachi eveadesi redout come.Theend- useris
theper sonwhoi sactuall
yusingapr oductorpr ogram.( Theyar et heonef orwhom
the“endr esul
t”isdesigned.
)Someexampl esofappl icationsof twareincludeinternet
browser s, aCRM toollikeHubspot ,aphot o-edi
tingsof twar eli
keAdobeorLi ghtr
oom,
orawor dpr ocessi
ngappl i
cationl i
keMi crosoftWor d.Appl icati
onsof twarei s
i
nstalledonacomput erormobi l
edev icebaseduponauser ’sneed.Becauset hisis
themostcommont ypeofsof twar e,therearemanyopt i
onsav ail
ableanduser scan
chooset heonet hatbestfit
sthei rneeds, budget,andexpect ations.(Forexampl e,
anyonewant i
ngtolookont hei nternetcoulduseChr ome, Safari,orevenFi r
efox.)

Sy
stem Sof
twar
e

Syst
em soft
war ehelpstheuser
,thecomput
erormobiledevi
ce,andanappl
icat
ion
al
lworktogetherseamlessl
y.Thi
smakessystem sof
twarecr
ucialt
orunni
ngany
ki
ndofapplicat
ionsoftwareaswellast
hewholecomputersyst
em.

Thinkaboutwheny ourlapt
oporphonehasanupdat e.Thi si
ssy stem soft
war ein
acti
on:thereisatweakmadet othesystem softwaret hathelpsy ourcomput eror
phonecont i
nuetoworkwel landkeepappl i
cationsrunni ng.Apple’si
OSi san
exampleofsy st
em software,asisMicrosoftWi ndows.Sy stem softwareisalways
runni
ngint hebackgr
oundofy ourdev
ice,butitisnev ersomet hi
ngy ouwi l
luse
dir
ectl
y.Infact,
theonlyti
memostpeopl erememberi t
’sthereiswheni ti
st i
mef or
anupdat e.
Pr
ogr
ammi
ng-
Sof
twar
e

Whileapplicati
onsof twar eisdesignedforend- user
s,andsystem soft
wareis
designedforcomput er sormobi l
edev i
ces,programmi ngsoft
wareisforcomput er
programmer sanddev eloperswhoar ewriti
ngcode.Thesear eprogramsthatare
usedt owrite,develop, t
est,anddebugot hersof t
wareprograms.It’
shelpf
ultothink
ofthesepr ogramsasat r
anslat
orofsorts:theytakeprogramminglanguagesli
ke
Laravel,
Py thon,C++, andmor eandtranslat
et hem i
ntosomet hi
ngacomput eror
phonewi ll
under stand.

Dr
iverSof
twar
e

Thissof t
war eisoftenconsideredtobeat y
peofsystem sof
tware.Dri
versof
tware
operatesandcont rolsdevi
cest hatarepluggedint
oacomput er
.Thesedri
versmake
i
tpossi bl
ef ordevicestoperformtheirnecessar
yfuncti
ons.Av erygood(and
practi
cal)exampl eofthisi
sy ourprint
er.Wheny ouarefi
rstsett
ingupyourprint
erto
workwi thy ourcomputer,youhav etoinstall
sof
twaretoconnectthetwosot hatthey
communi cateandpr i
ntanythingyouneed.

SOURCE: ht
tps://
www.googl
e.com/amp/
s/www.
leadwi
thpr
imi
ti
ve.
com/
blog/
the-
4-
main-
types-
of-soft
war
e%3fhs_amp=tr
ue