The Various Types Of Software

S
oftware is a program that contains a set of instructions given to the computer to do a particular job. In other words, these are computer programs designed by the programmer instructing the computer to do a certain work. For example, consider the calculator that comes with the computer on the purchase. Here, the calculator that is specified is not the electronic device but software that is installed in the computer to do various calculations.

Generally, software can be divided into system software, application software, and programming software.

 

System software: These are programs that are helpful in the coordination of the hardware with the computer or the software. The operating system is one system software. These are programs that are written to translate the input given from difference source into a language that the machine can understand. For example, when you key in a particular command or press a single key on your keyboard, your software where you type in the instruction or your system does not understand it directly. It can understand only 1’s and 0’s. So, the operating system acts as an interface between the hardware and the software.

• It helps in the communication of the hardware devices with the software
• It also helps in supporting the application software during the execution and the development.
• It helps in connecting external devices such as pen drive, CD drive, keyboard, wired and wireless mouse etc.

Some of the system software are:

• Operating system
• Command line
• Compilers
• Interpreters
• Communication software
• Device drivers

Application Software: These are designed to perform a particular task. Many companies are doing this as the main business. They develop this type of software as and when requested by the clients. There are so many application software that are being used these days.

Technologies have given us the opportunity to shop from home, pay electricity, tax and other bills online. Each one is software. That does not mean that software applications are software that are used only for business purposes. There are also software applications that can be installed on a standalone machine and can be utilized. Programmers develop each application differently as per the requirement. Some of the application software are

Educational software: There are software that are designed for learning purpose. One can install them in the computer and can start learning it themselves by viewing and understanding the explanations given in the software. For example, Oracle tutorial software guides the users about creating and manipulating tables through queries.

Business software: These are the software that are created to handle the business. The software mainly acts as the interface that helps the customer to place an order and helps the business owner to carry on the business from his end.

Business management software: While business software acts as an interface to handle the business, business management software helps the business owner to manage the business more effectively. For example, employee tracking tool helps the management to track the activities of the employees and the revenue tracker helps to analyze the business effectively. Similarly, there are various business management software that can help the owner to understand the growth of the business effectively.

Web-based applications: This type of software has a website or mobile application as a front end and the backend usually has a database that maintains data that is given by the user. There are many software suites such as flash, photo editors etc., that are used in developing websites. Mobile applications are also to be developed these days as every site is now more predominantly accessed by mobile rather than traditional methods.

Financial and Retail Software: These type of software applications are widely used by many banks, financial institutions, and retailers. This also has a friendly front end for the user to provide inputs and then has a secure database that probably needs regular backup. This can provide statistics and charts on profit and loss, taxes and balance sheet details of companies.

Application software is not restricted to a particular field; they are being used in almost all fields.

Programming software:

These are software that are used to develop application software. Programming software is used by the programmers to design, develop and test their application. Some of the programming software are C, C++, Java, Asp. Net and so on. This software can be used only by the people who have knowledge of the particular language.