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04 – Computer Systems
Basics - Software
NCM 110: Nursing Informatics
Objectives
1. Identify the THREE categories of
software and their functions.
2. Describe FOUR important analytic
themes in Information Science.
3. Explain FIVE types of programming
languages and their general
capabilities.
4. Discuss smartphone applications that
can be used as part of physical
assessment.
5. Explain the DIFFERENCES among
LANs, WANs, and MANs
Key Words
o Software
o Programs
o Programming languages
o Read-only memory (ROM)
o Random access memory (RAM)
o Operating systems
Introduction
Software is the general term applied to the
instructions that DIRECT the computer’s
HARDWARE to perform work. It is distinguished
from hardware by its conceptual RATHER
THAN physical nature.
Hardware consists of physical components,
whereas software consists of instructions
COMMUNICATED ELECTRONICALLY to the
hardware. Software is needed for two purposes.
First, computers do NOT DIRECTLY understand
human language, and software is needed to
translate instructions created in human
language INTO machine language.
At the MACHINE LEVEL, computers can
understand only binary numbers, not English or
any other human language.
Categories of Software
There are THREE basic types of software:
system software, utility programs, and
applications software. System software “boots
up” (starts up and initializes) the computer
system; it CONTROLS input, output, and
storage; and it controls the operations of ALL
other software.
Utility software consists of programs designed to
SUPPORT and OPTIMIZE the functioning of the
computer system itself.
Utility programs help MAINTAIN the computer
system’s speed, CLEAN UP unwanted
programs, PROTECT the system against virus
attacks, ACCESS the World Wide Web
(WWW), and the like.
Applications software include the programs that
PERFORM the business or personal work
people use the machine to DO.
System Software
System software consists of a VARIETY of
programs that control the individual computer
and make the user’s application programs
work well with the hardware.
System software consists of a variety of programs
that initialize, or boot up, the computer when it
is FIRST turned on and thereafter control ALL
THE FUNCTIONS of the computer hardware and
applications software.
System software helps speed up the computer’s
processing, EXPANDS the power of the
computer by CREATING cache memory,
REDUCES the amount of confusion when
multiple programs are running together,
“cleans up” the hard drive so that storage is
managed efficiently, and performs other such
system management tasks.
System Software
Utility programs include programs designed to
KEEP the computer system operating
efficiently. They do this by ADDING power to
the functioning of the system software or
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supporting the OS or applications software
programs.
As such, utility programs are sort of BETWEEN
system software and applications software,
although SOME writers identify this software as
PART of the system software category.
SIX TYPES of utility software can describe the
majority of utility programs, although there is NO
formal categorization system for such
programs. The categories include at least
security programs, system management
utilities, backup for the user’s data, screen
savers, archival assistance software, and
programming environment support
programs.
Applications Software
Applications software includes all the various
programs PEOPLE USE to do work, process
data, play games, communicate with others,
and watch videos and multimedia programs on
a computer.
Unlike system and utility programs, they ARE
WRITTEN for system users to make use of the
computer.
When the USER orders the OS to run an
application program, the OS transfers the
program FROM the hard drive, or removable
media, and executes it.
Programming Languages
A programming language is a means of
COMMUNICATING with the computer.
Actually, of course, the ONLY LANGUAGE a
CPU can understand is binary or machine
language. While it is certainly possible for
programmers to learn to use binary—some
highly sensitive defense applications are still
written in machine language—the language is
PAINFULLY TEDIOUS to USE.
For most applications, it is an inefficient use of
human resources, and worse, machine language
programs are quite difficult to update and
debug. Since the invention of computers, users
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have longed for a machine that could accept
instructions in everyday human language.
Although that goal largely eludes programmers,
applications such as office support programs
(i.e. word processors, spread sheets,
presentation graphics applications and the like)
have become much easier to use with graphical
user interface (GUI)-based commands.
Generations & Levels of Programming Languages
Programming languages are divided into FIVE
generations, or sometimes into THREE levels.
The term level refers to how close the language
is to the actual machine.
The FIRST LEVEL includes the first two
generations of programming languages:
machine language and assembly (or
assembler) language.
Common Software Packages for Microcomputers
As noted above, the MOST COMMON package
sold with computers is a standard office
package. (The standard office package includes
a word processing program, a spreadsheet
program, and a presentation graphics
program.)
The upgraded or professional versions usually
add some form of database management
system, an e-mail system, and a “publisher”
program for preparing flyers, brochures, and
other column-format documents.
The TWO most commonly used programs are
the e-mail system and the word processor.
In fact, SOME PEOPLE purchase a computer
with only an OS, word processor, and an
Internet browser, and sign up for their e-mail
account and use little else.
Software Packages Ownership Rights
PROTECTING ownership rights in software has
presented a CHALLENGE to the computer
software industry. A program sold to one
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customer can be installed on a very large
number of machines.
This practice obviously seriously HARMS the
profitability of software development. If
programs were sold outright, users would have
every right to distribute them as they wished;
however, the industry could NOT SURVIVE in
such market conditions.
As a result, the software industry has followed an
ownership model MORE SIMILAR to that of the
book publishing industry than to the model
used by vendors of most commercial products.
Common Software Useful to Nurses
In most hospitals, much of the software used by
nurses is based in an HIS, a MULTIPURPOSE
PROGRAM designed to support many
applications in hospitals and their associated
clinics.
The components nurses use most include the
electronic medical record for charting patient
care, admission-discharge-transfer (ADT)
systems that help with patient tracking,
medication administration record (MAR)
software, laboratory systems that are used to
ORDER laboratory tests and REPORT the
results, and supplies inventory systems
through which nurses charge IVs, dressings, and
other supplies used in patient care.
Computer Systems
Every functioning computer is a system; that
is, it is a complex entity, consisting of an
ORGANIZED SET of interconnected
components or factors that function
TOGETHER as a unit to accomplish results that
one part alone COULD NOT.
Computer system may refer to a SINGLE
MACHINE (and its peripherals and software) that
is unconnected to any other computer.
However, most healthcare professionals use
computer systems consisting of MULTIPLE,
INTERCONNECTED computers that function to
facilitate the work of groups of providers and their
support people in a system called a network.
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The greatest range of functionality is realized
when computers are connected to other
computers in a network or, as with the Internet,
a system of networks in which any computer
can COMMUNICATE with any other computer.
Information Science
Information science is an interdisciplinary field
primarily concerned with the analysis,
collection, classification, manipulation,
storage, retrieval, movement, dissemination,
and use of INFORMATION (ASIS&T, 2019;
Stock & Stock, 2013).
It is concerned with technologies, strategies,
and methodologies for GETTING the right
information to people when it is needed
WITHOUT people getting overwhelmed with
irrelevant and unwanted information. ALL
SCIENCE is concerned with measurement and
analysis, and information science is NO
DIFFERENT.
Summary
Software is the set of commands TO THE
computer that instruct the system as to WHAT
the user wants DONE. Software is the general
term that DESCRIBES the computer
instruction code, and particular items of
software are called programs. The THREE
general types of software are systems software,
utility software, and applications programs.
Systems software CONTROLS the operations of
the machine and HOW it works with peripheral
equipment and SUPPORTS utility and
applications programs.
Utility software SUPPORTS the efficiency,
productivity, and security of the systems
software and applications programs.
Applications software includes ALL THE
PROGRAMS the user employs to do the work
for which the user got the computer. Examples of
these types of software include OSs for systems
software, ANTI-VIRUS programs for utility
software, and WORD PROCESSING for
applications software.