unit 2

COMPUTER SOFTWARE
Software is a set of programs that instructs the computer about the tasks to be performed.
Software tells the computer how the tasks are to be performed or hardware carries out these
tasks. Different sets of software can be loaded on the same hardware to perform different kinds
of tasks. For example, a user can use the same computer hardware for writing a report or for
running a payroll program.
TYPES OF SOFTWARE
Software can be broadly classified into two categories:
• System Software, and
• Application Software.
•

Figure 1: Software Hierarchy

System software provides the basic functions that are performed by the computer. It is
necessary for the functioning of a computer. Application software is used by the users to
perform specific tasks. The user may choose the appropriate application software, for
performing a specific task, which provides the desired functionality. The system software
interacts with hardware at one end and with application software at the other end. The
application software interacts with the system software and the users of the computer.
• SYSTEM SOFTWARE

classes of system software

System software provides basic functionality to the computer. System software is required for
the working of computer itself. The user of computer does not need to be aware about the
functioning of system software, while using the computer. For example, when you buy a
computer, the system software would also include different device drivers. When you request
for using any of the devices, the corresponding device driver software interacts with the
hardware device to perform the specified request. If the appropriate device driver for any
device, say a particular model of a printer, is installed on the computer, the user does not
need to know about the device driver, while printing on this printer.
The purposes of system software are:
 • Provide basic functionality to the computer,
• Control computer hardware, and
• Act as an interface between user, application software and computer hardware.
On the basis of their functionality, system software
may be broadly divided into two categories.

• System software for the management and functionality of

computer relates to the functioning of different components of the computer, like,
processor, input and

output devices etc. System software is required for managing the operations performed by
the components of the computer and the devices attached to the computer. It provides
support for various services, as requested by the application software. Operating system,
device drivers, and system utilities software constitute the system software for
management of computer and its resources.
• System software for the development of application and other software provide
services required for the development and execution of application and other software.
System software provides the software tools required for the development of application
software. The programming language software, translator software, loader, and linker are
also categorized as system software, and are required for the application software
development.
• System Software for Management and Functionality of Computer
• Operating System(OS)
Operating System (OS) is an important part of a computer. OS intermediates between the user
of a computer and the computer hardware. Different kinds of application software use
specific hardware resources of a computer like CPU, I/O devices and memory, as needed by
the application software. OS controls and coordinates the use of hardware among the different
application software and the users. It provides an interface that is convenient for the user to
use, and facilitates efficient operations of the computer system resources.
Operating system is a program that controls the execution of application programs and acts as
an interface between the user of a computer and the computer hardware. Operating system is
the program running at all times on the computer.
Goals of using OS:
• To Control/execute user/application programs.
• To make the computer system convenient to use.
• Easily to solve user problems.
 • Use the computer hardware in an efficient manner.
FUNCTIONS OF OS
Operating system is large and complex software consisting of several components. Each
component of the operating system has its own set of defined inputs and outputs. Different
components of OS perform specific tasks to provide the overall functionality of the
operating system.
The key functions of OS are:
• It provides an environment in which users and application software can do work.
• It manages different resources of the computer like the CPU time, memory space, file
storage, I/O devices etc. During the use of computer by other programs or users, operating
system manages various resources and allocates them whenever required, efficiently.

• It controls the execution of different programs to prevent occurrence of error.

• It provides a convenient interface to the user in the form of commands and graphical
interface, which facilitates the use of computer.

Process Management:-The process management activities handled by the OS are:

• Control access to shared resources like file, memory, I/O and CPU,
• Control execution of applications,
• Create, execute and delete a process (system process or user process),
• Cancel or resume a process
• Schedule a process, and
• Synchronization, communication and deadlock handling for processes.
File Management:-The file management tasks include:
• Create and delete both files and directories,
• Provide access to files,
• Allocate space for files,
• Keep back-up of files, and
• Secure files.
•
Memory Management:-The activities of memory management handled by OS are:
• allocate memory,
• Free memory,
• Re-allocate memory to a program when a used block is freed, and
• Keep track of memory usage.
Device Management:-The device management tasks handled by OS are:
• Open, close and write device drivers, and

• Communicate, control and monitor the device driver.

Protection and Security:-OS protects the resources of the system. User authentication, file
attributes like read, write, encryption, and back-up of data are used by OS to provide basic
protection. User Interface or Command Interpreter:-Operating system provides an
interface between the computer user and the computer hardware. The user interface is a set
of commands or a graphical user interface via which the user interacts with the applications
and the hardware.
TYPES OF OS
OS are classified into different types depending on their capability of processing:
• Single user and single tasking
• Single user and Multitasking
• Multiuser
• Multiprocessing
• Real time
• Embedded.

Single User and Single Task OS

It is used by single user for a standalone single computer for performing a single task.
Operating system for Personal Computers (PC) are single user OS. For example, if the user is
editing a document, then a document cannot be printed on the printer simultaneously. Single
user OS are simple operating system designed to manage one task at a time. MS-DOS is an
example of single user OS.
Single User and Multitasking OS
It allows execution of more than one task or process concurrently. The processor time is
divided among different tasks. This OS types are also called time sharing OS. The processor
switches rapidly between processes. For examples, the user can listen to music on the
computer while writing an article using word processor software. The user can switch
between the applications and also transfer data between them. Windows 95 and all later
versions of Windows are examples of multitasking OS.
Multiuser OS
It is used in computer networks that allow same data and applications to be accessed by
multiple users at the same time. The users can also communicate with each other. Linux,
UNIX, Windows server, Windows 7, and later Windows family OSs are examples of multiuser
OS.
Multiprocessing OS
Multiprocessing OS have two or more processors for a single running process. Processing
takes place in parallel and it is also called parallel processing OS. Each processor works on
different parts of the same task, or, on two or more different tasks. Since execution takes place
in parallel, they are used for high speed execution, and to increase the power of computer.
Linux, UNIX, Windows server, Windows 7, and later Windows family OSs are examples of
multiprocessing OS.
Real Time OS
They are designed to respond to an event within a predetermined time. These operating
systems are used to control processes. Processing is done within a time constraint. OS
monitors the events that affect the execution of process and respond accordingly. They are
used to respond to queries in areas like medical imaging system, industrial control systems etc.
Lynx OS is an example of real time OS.
Embedded OS
It is embedded in a device in the ROM. They are specific to a device and are less resource
intensive. They are used in appliances like microwaves, washing machines, traffic control
systems etc.
• Device Driver
A device driver acts as a translator between the hardware and the software that uses the
devices. In other words; it intermediates between the device and the software, in order to use
the device. Some devices that are commonly connected to the computer are: keyboard, mouse,
hard disk, printer, speakers, microphone, joystick, webcam, scanner, digital camera, and
monitor. For proper working of a device, its corresponding device driver must be installed on
the computer. For example, when we give a command to read data from the hard disk, the
command is sent to the hard disk drive driver and is translated to a form that the hard disk can
understand. The device driver software is typically supplied by the respective device
manufacturers.
• System Utilities
System utility software is required for the maintenance of computer. System utilities are used
for supporting and enhancing the programs and the data in computer. Some system utilities
may come embedded with OS and others may be added later on. Some examples of system
utilities are:
• Anti-virus: utility to scan computer for viruses.
• Data Compression: utility to compress the files.
• Cryptographic: utility to encrypt and decrypt files.
• Disk Compression: utility to compress contents of a disk for increasing the capacity of a
disk.
• Disk Partitioning: to divide a single drive into multiple logical drives. Each drive is then
treated as an individual drive and has its own file system.
• Disk Cleaners: to find files that has not been used for a long time. It helps the user to
decide what to delete when the hard disk is full.
• Backup: Utility to make a copy of all information stored on the disk. It also restores the
backed up contents in case of disk failure.
• System Profiling: Utility provides detailed information about the software installed on
the computer and the hardware attached to it.
• Network Managers: to check the computer network and to log events.

• System Software for Development of Application and Other Software

(Programming Languages)
A Programming Language consists of a set of vocabulary and grammatical rules, to express the
computations and tasks that the computer has to perform. Programming languages are used to
write a program, which controls the behavior of computer, codify the algorithms precisely, or
enables the human computer interface. Each language has a unique set of keywords (words
that it understands) and a special syntax for organizing program instructions. The
programming language should be understood, both by the programmer (who is writing the
program) and the computer. A computer understands the language of 0s and 1s, while the
programmer is more comfortable with English-like language. Programming Language usually
refers to high-level languages like COBOL, BASIC, FORTRAN, C, C++, Java, C#, Visual
Basic, Java Script, F#, Payton, PHP etc. Programming languages fall into three categories.
• Machine Language: is what the computer can understand but it is difficult for the
programmer to understand. A program written in machine language is a collection of
binary digits or bits that the computer reads and interprets. It is a system of instructions and
data executed directly by the computers CPU. It is also referred to as machine code or
object code. It is written as strings of 0s and 1s.
• Assembly Language: falls between machine language and high-level language. They
allow the programmer to substitute names for numbers. A program written in assembly
language uses symbolic representation of machine codes needed to program a particular
processor (CPU) or processor family. This representation is usually defined by the CPU
manufacturer, and is based on abbreviations (called mnemonics) that help the
 programmer remember individual instructions, registers, etc.
• High-level Language: is easier to understand and use for the programmer but difficult for
the computer. A program in a high-level language is written in English-like language. Such
languages hide the details of CPU operations and are easily portable across computers. A
high-level language makes the process of developing a program simpler and more
understandable with respect to assembly and machine level languages.
2. APPLICATION SOFTWARE
The software that a user uses for accomplishing a specific task is the application software.
Application software may be a single program or a set of programs. A set of programs that are
written for a specific purpose and provide the required functionality is called software
package. Application software is written for different kinds of applications such as graphics,
word processors, media players, database applications, telecommunication, accounting
purposes etc.
Some examples of application software packages are:
• Word Processing Software: For writing letter, reports, documents etc. (e.g. MS-WORD,
word press).
• Image Processing Software: For assisting in drawing and manipulating graphics (e.g.
Adobe Photoshop).
• Accounting Software: For assisting in accounting information, salary, tax returns (Tally
software, Peachtree accounting etc.)
• Spreadsheet Software: Used for creating budget, tables etc. (e.g. MS-Excel).
• Presentation Software: To make presentations, slide shows (e.g. MS-PowerPoint)
• Suite of Software having Word Processor, Spreadsheet and Presentation Software:
Some examples are MS-Office, Google Docs, Sun Open office, Apple iWork.
• CAD/CAM Software: To assist in architectural design. (e.g. AutoCAD, Autodesk, Arch
CAD)
• Geographic Information Systems: It captures, stores, analyzes, manages, and presents
data, images and maps that are linked to different locations. (e.g. Arc GIS)
• Web Browser Software: To access the World Wide Web to search documents, sounds,
images etc. (e.g. Internet Explorer, Netscape Communicator, Chrome, Mozilla Fir fox, UC,
Baidu, etc.)

Introduction to C
C is a programming language developed at AT & T’s Bell Laboratories of USA in 1972. It was
designed and written by a man named Dennis Ritchie. In the late seventies C began to replace
the more familiar languages of that time like PL/I, ALGOL, etc
ANSI C standard emerged in the early 1980s, this book was split into two titles: The original
was still called Programming in C, and the title that covered ANSI C was called Programming
in ANSI C. This was done because it took several years for the compiler vendors to release
their ANSI C compilers and for them to become ubiquitous. It was initially designed for
programming UNIX operating system. Now the software tool as well as the C compiler is
written in C. Major parts of popular operating systems like Windows, UNIX, Linux is still
written in C. This is because even today when it comes to performance (speed of
execution) nothing beats C. Moreover, if one is to extend the operating system to work with
new devices one needs to write device driver programs. These programs are exclusively
written in C. C seems so popular is because it is reliable, simple and easy to use. often heard
today is – “C has been already superceded by languages like C++, C# and Java.
Program
There is a close analogy between learning English language and learning C language. The
classical method of learning English is to first learn the alphabets used in the language, then
learn to combine these alphabets to form words, which in turn are combined to form sentences
and sentences are combined to form paragraphs. Learning C is similar and easier. Instead of
straight-away learning how to write programs, we must first know what alphabets, numbers and
special symbols are used in C, then how using them constants, variables and keywords are
constructed, and finally how are these combined to form an instruction. A group of instructions
would be combined later on to form a program. So

a computer program is just a collection of the instructions necessary to solve a specific problem.
The basic operations of a computer system form what is known as the computer’s instruction set.
And the approach or method that is used to solve the problem is known as an algorithm.
So for as programming language concern these are of two types.
1) Low level language
2) High level language
Low level language:
Low level languages are machine level and assembly level language. In machine level language
computer only understand digital numbers i.e. in the form of 0 and 1. So, instruction given to the
computer is in the form binary digit, which is difficult to implement instruction in binary code.
This type of program is not portable, difficult to maintain and also error prone. The assembly
language is on other hand modified version of machine level language. Where instructions are
given in English like word as ADD, SUM, MOV etc. It is easy to write and understand but not
understand by the machine. So the translator used here is assembler to translate into machine
level. Although language is bit easier, programmer has to know low level details related to low
level language. In the assembly level language the data are stored in the computer register, which
varies for different computer. Hence it is not portable.
High level language:
These languages are machine independent, means it is portable. The language in this category is
Pascal, Cobol, Fortran etc. High level languages are understood by the machine. So it need to
translate by the translator into machine level. A translator is software which is used to translate
high level language as well as low level language in to machine level language.
Three types of translator are there:
Compiler
Interpreter
Assembler
Compiler and interpreter are used to convert the high level language into machine level
language. The program written in high level language is known as source program and the
corresponding machine level language program is called as object program. Both compiler and
interpreter perform the same task but there working is different. Compiler read the program at-a-
time and searches the error and lists them. If the program is error free then it is converted into
object program. When program size is large then compiler is preferred. Whereas interpreter read
only one line of the source code and convert it to object code. If it check error, statement by
statement and hence of take more time.
Integrated Development Environments (IDE)
The process of editing, compiling, running, and debugging programs is often managed by a
single integrated application known as an Integrated Development Environment, or IDE for
short. An IDE is a windows-based program that allows us to easily manage large software
programs, edit files in windows, and compile, link, run, and debug programs. On Mac OS X,
CodeWarrior and Xcode are two IDEs that are used by many programmers. Under Windows,
Microsoft Visual Studio is a good example of a popular IDE. Kylix is a popular IDE for
developing applications under Linux. Most IDEs also support program development in several
different programming languages in addition to C, such as C# and C++.
Structure of C Language program
1 ) Comment line
2) Preprocessor directive
3 ) Global variable declaration
4) main function( )
{
Local variables;
Statements;
}
User defined function
}
}
Comment line
It indicates the purpose of the program. It is represented as
/*……………………………..*/
Comment line is used for increasing the readability of the program. It is useful in
explaining the program and generally used for documentation. It is enclosed within
the decimeters. Comment line can be single or multiple line but should not be
nested. It can be anywhere in the program except inside string constant & character
constant.
Preprocessor Directive:
#include<stdio.h> tells the compiler to include information about the standard
input/output library. It is also used in symbolic constant such as #define PI
3.14(value). The stdio.h (standard input output header file) contains definition
&declaration of system defined function such as printf( ), scanf( ), pow( ) etc.
Generally printf() function used to display and scanf() function used to read value
Global Declaration:
This is the section where variable are declared globally so that it can be access by
all the functions used in the program. And it is generally declared outside the
function :
main()
It is the user defined function and every function has one main() function from
where actually program is started and it is encloses within the pair of curly braces.
The main( ) function can be anywhere in the program but in general practice it is
placed in the first position.
Syntax :
main()
{
……..
……..
……..
}
The main( ) function return value when it declared by data type as
int main( )
{
return 0
}
The main function does not return any value when void (means null/empty) as
void main(void ) or void main()
{
printf (“C language”);
}
Output: C language
The program execution start with opening braces and end with closing brace.
And in between the two braces declaration part as well as executable part is
mentioned. And at the end of each line, the semi-colon is given which indicates
statement termination.
/*First c program with return statement*/
#include <stdio.h>
int main (void)
{
printf ("welcome to c Programming language.\n");
return 0;
}
Output: welcome to c programming language.
Steps for Compiling and executing the Programs
A compiler is a software program that analyzes a program developed in a particular
computer language and then translates it into a form that is suitable for execution
on a particular computer system. Figure below shows the steps that are involved in
entering, compiling, and executing a
computer program developed in the C programming language and the typical Unix
commands that would be entered from the command line.
Step 1: The program that is to be compiled is first typed into a file on the
computer system. There are various conventions that are used for naming files,
typically be any name provided the last two characters are “.c” or file with
extension .c. So, the file name prog1.c might be a valid filename for a C program.
A text editor is usually used to enter the C program into a file. For example, vi is a
popular text editor used on Unix systems. The program that is entered into the file
is known as the source program because it represents the original form of the
program expressed in the C language.
Step 2: After the source program has been entered into a file, then proceed to have
it compiled. The compilation process is initiated by typing a special command on
the system. When this command is entered, the name of the file that contains the
source program must also be specified. For example, under Unix, the command to
initiate program compilation is called cc. If we are using the popular GNU C
compiler, the command we use is gcc.
Typing the line
gcc prog1.c or cc prog1.c
In the first step of the compilation process, the compiler examines each program
statement contained in the source program and checks it to ensure that it conforms
to the syntax and semantics of the language. If any mistakes are discovered by the
compiler during this phase, they are reported to the user and the compilation
process ends right there. The errors then have to be corrected in the source program
(with the use of an editor), and the compilation process must be restarted. Typical
errors reported during this phase of compilation might be due to an expression that
has unbalanced parentheses (syntactic error), or due to the use of a variable that is
not “defined” (semantic error).
Step 3: When all the syntactic and semantic errors have been removed from the
program, the compiler then proceeds to take each statement of the program and
translate it into a “lower” form that is equivalent to assembly language program
needed to perform the identical task.
Step 4: After the program has been translated the next step in the compilation
process is to translate the assembly language statements into actual machine
instructions. The assembler takes each assembly language statement and converts it
into a binary format known as object code, which is then written into another file
on the system. This file has the same name as the source file under Unix, with the
last letter an “o” (for object) instead of a “c”.
Step 5: After the program has been translated into object code, it is ready to be linked. This
process is once again performed automatically whenever the cc or gcc command is issued under
Unix. The purpose of the linking phase is to get the program into a final form for execution on
the computer. If the program uses other programs that were previously processed by the
compiler, then during this phase the programs are linked together. Programs that are used from
the system’s program library are also searched and linked together with the object program
during this phase. The process of compiling and linking a program is often called building. The
final linked file, which is in an executable object code format, is stored in another file on the
system, ready to be run or executed. Under Unix, this file is called a.out by default. Under
Windows, the executable file usually has the same name as the source file, with the c extension
replaced by an exe extension.
Step 6: To subsequently execute the program, the command a.out has the effect of loading the
program called a.out into the computer’s memory and initiating its execution. When the program
is executed, each of the statements of the program is sequentially executed in turn. If the
program requests any data from the user, known as input, the program temporarily suspends its
execution so that the input can be entered. Or, the program might simply wait for an event, such
as a mouse being clicked, to occur. Results that are displayed by the program, known as output,
appear in a window, sometimes called the console. If the program does not produce the desired
results, it is necessary to go back and reanalyze the program’s logic. This is known as the
debugging phase, during which an attempt is made to remove all the known problems or bugs
from the program. To do this, it will most likely be necessary to make changes to original source
program.

Character set
A character denotes any alphabet, digit or special symbol used to represent information. Valid
alphabets, numbers and special symbols allowed in C are

The alphabets, numbers and special symbols when properly combined form constants, variables
and keywords.
Identifiers
Identifiers are user defined word used to name of entities like variables, arrays, functions,
structures etc. Rules for naming identifiers are:
1) name should only consists of alphabets (both upper and lower case), digits
and underscore (_) sign.
2) first characters should be alphabet or underscore
3) name should not be a keyword
4) since C is a case sensitive, the upper case and lower case considered differently, for example
code, Code, CODE etc. are different identifiers.
5) identifiers are generally given in some meaningful name such as value, net_salary, age, data
etc. An identifier name may be long, some implementation recognizes only first eight characters,
most recognize 31 characters. ANSI standard compiler recognize 31 characters.
Some invalid identifiers are 5cb, int,
res#, avg no etc.

Keyword:
There are certain words reserved for doing specific task, these words are known as reserved
word or keywords. These words are predefined and always written in lower case or small letter.
These keywords cann’t be used as a variable name as it assigned with fixed meaning. Some
examples are int, short, signed, unsigned, default, volatile, float, long, double, break, continue,
typedef, static, do, for, union, return, while, do, extern, register, enum, case, goto, struct, char,
auto, const etc.
data types:
Data types refer to an extensive system used for declaring variables or functions of different
types before its use. The type of a variable determines how much space it occupies in storage and
how the bit pattern stored is interpreted. The value of a variable can be changed any time.
C has the following 4 types of data types
basic built-in data types: int, float, double, char
Enumeration data type: enum
Derived data type: pointer, array, structure, union
Void data type: void
A variable declared to be of type int can be used to contain integral values only—that is, values
that do not contain decimal places. A variable declared to be of type float can be used for storing
floating- point numbers (values containing decimal places). The double type is the same as type
float, only with roughly twice the precision. The char data type can be used to store a single
character, such as the letter a, the digit character 6, or a semicolon similarly A variable declared
char can only store character type value.
There are two types of type qualifier in c
Size qualifier: short, long
Sign qualifier: signed, unsigned