HackerNet

What is Software

Software is a set of instructions that tell to computer how to work and what to do

Types of Softwares

The software has two main types

• System Software
• Application Software

System Software

Software that controls the computer hardware and enables the computer to run more efficiently.

• Operating System
• Network Operating System
• Utility

Operating System

• An Operating System acts as an intermediate layer between the user of the system and the computer hardware
• It is the job of the operating system to tell the computer how to use its own components
• Helps to run application programs
• When a program or the user wants the hardware to perform a task such as copying or printing a file, the operating system handles this request
• Examples of Operating Systems are Windows 8, Windows 10, Linux, and Mac OS.
• Windows is the most popular operating system on desktops and laptops with a market share of around 74.96% among desktop operating systems.

Network Operating System

• A network operating system enables computers to exchange messages and share data across a network.
• A network operating system manages various network operations while at the time taking care of network security.
• An example of a networking operating system is Windows server 2019

Utility

• A Utility is software that executes extremely sophisticated tasks and thus makes a computer easy to use.
• Utility programs are used to manage disks, troubleshoot hardware problems, and perform other tasks that the operating system itself may not be able to do
• Dozens of utility software exist for personal computers.
• Treesize is a utility software that shows the complete data structure of a drive. and Antivirus software, Disk cleanup in Windows, Microsoft Disk Optimizer ( formerly Disk Defragmenter), and Windows Backup and restore are some examples of Utility software.

Application Software

• Application Software tells the computer to perform a specific task for example word Processing, Creating Animations, Photo Editing, etc.
• There are thousands of application software that cater to a myriad of user needs.
• The most common type of word processing software eg: Microsoft Access, MySQL, Oracle RDBMS
• Presentation Software eg: Microsoft PowerPoint
• Graphics Software eg: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Animate
• Entertainment Software eg: Computer Games
• Communication software eg: Microsoft Teams
• Multimedia Software for creating movies eg: Windows Movie Maker, Adobe Premiere Pro
• Web Design Tools eg: Adobe Dreamweaver, Bootstrap
• Web Browsers eg: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge.
• Screen Recorders eg: Camtasia, Screencast-O-Matic
• Whiteboard Animation Softwares eg: VideoScribe, Doodly