Ralph M. Stair | George W.

Reynolds

Chapter 4

Software: Systems and Application

Software

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or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
 Principles and Learning Objectives:
Critical Need for Software

• Systems and application software are

critical in helping individuals and
organizations achieve their goals
– Identify and briefly describe the functions of
the two basic kinds of software
– Outline the role of the operating system and
identify the features of several popular
operating systems

© 2016 Cengage Learning®. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied
or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
2
 Principles and Learning Objectives:
Meeting Business Needs

• Organizations use off-the-shelf application

software for common business needs and
proprietary application software to meet
unique business needs and provide a
competitive advantage
– Discuss how application software can support
personal, workgroup, and enterprise business
objectives

© 2016 Cengage Learning®. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied
or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
3
 Principles and Learning Objectives:
Providing a Competitive Advantage

• Organizations use off-the-shelf application

software for common business needs and
proprietary application software to meet
unique business needs and provide a
competitive advantage
– Identify three basic approaches to developing
application software and discuss the pros and
cons of each

© 2016 Cengage Learning®. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied
or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
4
 Principles and Learning Objectives:
Programming Languages

• Organizations should choose

programming languages with functional
characteristics that are appropriate for the
task at hand and well suited to the skills
and experience of the programming staff
– Outline the overall evolution and importance
of programming languages and clearly
differentiate among the generations of
programming languages

© 2016 Cengage Learning®. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied
or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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 Principles and Learning Objectives:
Trends and Issues

• The software industry continues to

undergo constant change; users need to
be aware of recent trends and issues to be
effective in their business and personal life
– Identify several key software issues and
trends that have an impact on organizations
and individuals

© 2016 Cengage Learning®. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied
or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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 Why Learn About Software?

• Software is indispensable for any

computer system and the people using the
system
• Applications software
– Key to helping you achieve your career goals
• Examples of using software: sales orders
and customer support; stock trading; and
scientific analysis

© 2016 Cengage Learning®. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied
or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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Systems Software: Functions and Types

• Controls the operations of computer

hardware
• Supports the application programs’
problem-solving capabilities
• Types of systems software
– Operating systems
– Utility programs
– Middleware

© 2016 Cengage Learning®. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied
or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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 Operating Systems

• A set of programs that controls computer

hardware and acts as an interface with
application programs

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 Operating Systems: Kernel

• The heart of the operating system

– Controls the most critical processes of the OS
– Ties all of the OS components together and
regulates other programs

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 Operating System Activities

• Controlling common computer hardware

functions
• Providing a user interface and input/output
management
• Providing a degree of hardware
independence
• Managing system memory
• Managing processing tasks
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Operating Systems: Processing Tasks

• Five basic task management techniques

– Multiuser: allows two or more users to run
programs at the same time on one computer
– Multiprocessing: supports running a program
on more than one CPU
– Multitasking: allows more than one program to
run concurrently
– Multithreading
– Real time

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Operating Systems: Networking Capability

• Allows computers in a network to send

and receive data and share computing
resources

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 Current Operating Systems

• Microsoft PC operating systems

– Windows XP
– Windows Vista
– Windows 7
– Windows 8
• Apple computer operating systems
– OS X 10.9 Mavericks
– Mac users can dual boot to run either
Windows or Mac OS X
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 Mobile Operating Systems

• Smartphones now employ full-fledged

personal computer operating systems
– Google Android
– Apple iOS
– Microsoft Windows Phone

© 2016 Cengage Learning®. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied
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 Embedded Operating Systems

• Embedded system: a computer system

(including a processor) implanted in and
dedicated to the control of another device
• Popular OSs for embedded systems
– Windows embedded
– Proprietary Linux-based systems: Sony’s Wii;
and OSs in e-book readers, ATMs, cell
phones, networking devices, etc.

© 2016 Cengage Learning®. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied
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 Utility Programs

• Utility program: a program that helps to

perform maintenance or correct problems
with a computer system

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 Common Types of Utility Programs

• Hardware utilities
• Security utilities
• File-compression utilities
• Spam-filtering utilities
• Network and Internet utilities
• Server and mainframe utilities
• Other utilities: mobile device management
(MDM), defraggers, system cleaners, etc.
© 2016 Cengage Learning®. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied
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 Middleware

• Software that allows different systems to

communicate and exchange data
• Can also be used as an interface between
the Internet and private corporate systems
• Service-oriented architecture (SOA): a
software design approach using modules
to provide specific functions as services to
other applications

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Overview of Application Software: ASP
and SaaS

• Application service provider (ASP)

– A company that can provide software,
support, and computer hardware on which to
run the software from the user’s facilities over
a network
• Software as a service (SaaS)
– Businesses subscribe to Web-delivered
business application software

© 2016 Cengage Learning®. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied
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Overview of Application Software: Cloud
Computing

• Cloud computing provides computing

resources on the Internet (the cloud)
rather than on local computers

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21
 Programming Languages

• Sets of keywords, commands, symbols,

and a system of rules for constructing
statements:
– Allows humans to communicate instructions to
a computer
• Syntax: a set of rules associated with a
programming language

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 Visual, Object-Oriented, and Artificial
Intelligence Languages

• Compiler: a special software program that

converts the programmer’s source code
into the machine-language instructions
• Software development kits (SDKs) and
integrated development environments
(IDEs) have made software development
easier than ever

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 Freeware and Open-Source Software

• Freeware: software that is made available

to the public for free
• Open-source software: distributed,
typically for free, with the source code

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 Summary – Principle 1

• Main categories of software are systems

software and application software
• An operating system (OS) is a set of
computer programs that controls the
computer hardware and acts as an interface
with applications
• Utility programs can perform many useful
tasks and often come installed on
computers along with the OS
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or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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 Summary – Principle 2

• Application software applies the power of

the computer to solve problems and
perform specific tasks
• Three approaches to acquiring application
software:
– Build proprietary application software
– Buy existing programs off the shelf
– Use a combination of customized and off-the-
shelf application software
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 Summary – Principle 2 (cont’d.)

• All software programs are written in coding

schemes called programming languages
• The several classes of programming
languages include:
– Machine, assembly, high-level, query and
database, object-oriented, and visual
programming

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 Summary – Principle 3

• Important software issues and trends

– Software bugs
– Software copyrights and licensing
– Freeware and open-source software
– Software upgrades
– Global software support

© 2016 Cengage Learning®. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied
or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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