A Computer is a programmable machine, that can receive input, stores and manipulates data to provide a useful output. It is consists of hardware and software. The mechanical parts of the computer are called hardware. For example input device, storage device etc. Where as programmable parts of the computer is called Software. For example MS- Word, MS-Excel, Windows, Mac, Unix etc.
To make a computer their involve two types of industries. The field of electrical engineering and computer system engineering. They primarily focus on the design and manufacturing of the computer hardware. While the software engineering and computer science focus on computer software. The area of the software industry is huge. The software industry is growing day by day.
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Software can be classified mainly into two groups:
- System Software
- Application Software
Beside this two main groups of software, there is another type of software called Middle-Ware Software.
What is Computer Software?
The set of a program which can do some specific tasks is called software or you can say the programmable part of a computer is called software. Computer Software is written in computer programming language.
System Software:
Mainly our operating system is called system software. System Software is designed to operate the computer’s hardware and to provide and maintain the platform for running application.
It directs the hardware to perform specific tasks. Most popular System Software are Windows, Mac, Unix, Ubuntu. More then 80 percent of computer runs on Windows Operating System (OS).
Application Software:
Application software is designed to help the user to perform one or more related specific tasks. Depending on the work for which it was designed for.
An Application can manipulate text, number, graphics or a combination of these elements. Examples of application software MS-Word, MS-Excel, Adobe Photoshop etc. Also, the Application software runs System Software.
Middle-ware Software:
The middle-ware software is a set of services that allows multiple processes running on one or more machines to interact. Most often used to support and simplify complex distributed applications.
It can also allow data contained in one database to be accessed through another middleware is sometimes called plumbing because it connects two applications and passes data between them. For example web servers, application servers, clouds computing etc.
