Every computer user is faced with a concept such as Software every day. This is not surprising, because the modern understanding of this term is interpreted as “software”, or, in abbreviated form, “software” (“software”). Consider some important aspects regarding the types of software and the relationship with other components of computer systems. So what is software?
General concepts
In a general sense, Software is a set of commands, guidelines for their execution based on a programming language, a program or a set of programs responsible for the interaction not only between the user and the computer system, but also between the so-called hardware components of the computer or other applications created for certain purposes.
Depending on the functions assigned to the software, all software can be divided into several classes, which will be discussed later.
Hardware and Software: differences and interconnection
The interpretation of these two terms arose with the advent of the first computers. Today it is generally accepted that Hardware is the hardware of the computer (hardware components), which you can touch with your hands (motherboards, processors, RAM, peripherals and other devices in the system itself or connected to it).
The opposite interpretation of the term Software. The translation can be represented literally as a “soft product”. In a broader sense, it is understood that the program cannot be touched, it is in some sense even a kind of virtual component.
And, most interestingly, to ensure the use of hardware or access to its capabilities, special software must be used in the form of special control programs responsible for the operability of such devices (drivers, BIOS I / O command sets, etc.) .
The term Software itself, the translation and interpretation of which is now used everywhere in the context of software, was not in use even at the dawn of the development of computer technology. And only at the beginning of the 60s of the last century it was finally formed. This was due to the introduction of a clear distinction between the teams responsible for controlling the hardware of the computer and the end user. Interconnected classes (Software and Hardware) began to be called software and hardware systems.
Software classification by several criteria
Since Software is precisely the software part of any computer system, such software can be divided into several large categories based on the tasks assigned to it. For example, in terms of use and replication, software is divided into corporate (custom-made for large firms and companies) and software for a wide range of users.
By the criterion of portability, programs can be platform-dependent (working exclusively in the same environment and with one type of hardware) and cross-platform (adapted to completely different systems).
According to the type of distribution, the software can be divided into closed programs, open-source (regarding the source code Open Source with the GNU license) and free. In addition, this often includes free, paid and shareware software. The latter type of application has full or partially limited functionality for a certain period of time, after which the program will have to be bought. Otherwise, it will stop working.
But according to the purpose of the classification, there are three large categories of software:
- systemic;
- applied;
- instrumental (development tools, tools and utilities).
System software
System components are not only applications in the usual sense. In fact, operating systems are also programs.
However, system software can often be imagined as a layer connecting user programs with the environment of the operating system in which they operate and the hardware involved in performing a particular task (for example, the same device drivers).
To make it clearer, we give the simplest example. Take the Windows operating system (system layer), a sound card (hardware) and a multimedia player (application software). In order for the sound card to play sound, you need a driver (system software) that provides device control of the operating system itself, which is also the platform for the player. Since the system recognizes the device, through its directives it transfers control to the player, to recognize the type of sound file using special codecs and decoders (additional software tools). The relationship is obvious.
Application programs
Application programs include all those applications that do not control system components or use them only partially, but solve strictly defined specific user tasks.
There are a lot of examples today: office suites, multimedia editors, mathematical computing and design systems, Internet access and network management tools, archivers, etc. As you can see, each type of software is a performance-oriented tool. a narrow range of tasks and interacting directly with the user of an integral computer system.
Tools & Utilities
The tools include software for the development and maintenance of other types of software. This includes programming language platforms , development environments , SDKs, bug tracking and version control systems.
As for utilities, they often mean software products for adjusting the parameters of hardware and / or software components included in the integrated computer system, without which access to the settings by other methods cannot be carried out. Such software can be built into operating systems or installed separately. In some cases, utilities can use full automation of settings (for example, optimizer applications for fixing errors and improving the performance of Windows systems).
Instead of an afterword
Finally, it is worth noting that many users often have another question about the term Software: “What kind of program is this?” Such a statement of the question is somewhat incorrect, because, as mentioned above, it can be not only a single application, but also a combination of programs, a set of language commands, directives and rules of a programming language for controlling other components or transferring them for processing and execution in binary form code, say, to the central processor.
The above classification is also very arbitrary, because in the description only the main types of software were presented without further division into subclasses, which today can be counted very, very much. But for an initial understanding of the term Software itself, an ordinary user may have enough of this knowledge.