Introduction to Software Prepared by:

Dhaval Vanzara Amit Dabhi Keval Gandhi Bharat Khunti Jesal Shah

What is a Software?
Software is the general term for various types of programs used to operate and manipulate computers and their peripheral devices. One common way of describing software and hardware is to say that software can be thought of as the variable part of a computer and hardware as the invariable part.

 software consists of clearly-defined instructions that upon execution, instructs hardware to perform the tasks for which it is designed. Software is stored in computer memory and cannot be touched, just as a 3D model shown in an illustration cannot be touched. Software is usually written in high-level programming languages that are easier and more efficient for humans to use (closer to natural language) than machine language.

Types of Software
Types of software

System Software

Application Software

OS

Utility

Application package/ tools

Special purpose Software

Windows Mac OS X Ubuntu

System update Firewall Defrag

MS Excel Word DBMS

Accounts Payroll Inventory

System software:
System software is a computer software designed to operate and control the computer hardware and to provide a platform for running application software As per the definition, it becomes clear that System software is the basic requirement for any computer to run application software. Thus, System software provides the required environment to run Application Software.

Components of system software:

1. Operating system 2. Utility software

1. Operating system
The operating system is an essential component of the system software in a computer system. An operating system (OS) is a collection of software that manages computer hardware resources and provides common services for computer programs. Application programs usually require an operating system to function.

Examples of Operating system

1. Microsoft windows Developed by Microsoft, the reason you are able to see this presentation. 2. Mac OS X Developed by Apple, Inc. , based on Unix. 3. Ubuntu The most popular Open source operating system to date.

Utility software:
Utility software is system software designed to help analyze, configure, optimize or maintain a computer. Utility software usually focuses on how the computer infrastructure (including the computer hardware, operating system, application software and data storage) operates.

 Due to this focus, utilities are often rather technical and targeted at people with an advanced level of computer knowledge - in contrast to application software, which allows users to do things like creating text documents, playing video games, listening to music or viewing websites.

Application software:
Application software is all the computer software that causes a computer to perform useful tasks beyond the running of the computer itself. The term is used to contrast such software with system software, which manages and integrates a computer's capabilities but does not directly perform tasks that benefit the user. The system software serves the application, which in turn serves the user.

Examples include accounting software, enterprise software, graphics software, media players, and office suites. Many application programs deal principally with documents. Applications may be bundled with the computer and its system software or published separately, and can be coded as university projects

User Interface:
The user interface, in the industrial design field of humanmachine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. A user interface is the system by which people (users) interact with a machine.

 The user interface includes hardware (physical) and software (logical) components. User interfaces exist for various systems, and provide a means of: 1. Input, allowing the users to manipulate a system 2. Output, allowing the system to indicate the effects of the users' manipulation

The chart of Human Interaction with computer and its components