Software

Professor Nancy C. Shaw

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Agenda
Definitions Systems Software PC Operating Systems Application Software Fourth Generation Languages

The Basics of Hardware and Software

Hardware physical aspects of computers, telecommunications, and other information technology devices
Example: Keyboard, monitor

Software -a general term for the various kinds of programs used to operate computers and related devices
Example: Microsoft Excel
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Software
detailed instructions that control the operation of the computer

series of statements or instructions processed sequentially

Without the aid of software, the computer (e.g. hardware) is useless while executing, the program is temporarily stored in primary storage
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Software

1. System software manages the computer

resources - handles tasks specific to technology management and coordinates the interaction of all technology devices

2. Application software - software used to solve

specific business problems

SOFTWARE

APPLICATION SOFTWARE SYSTEM SOFTWARE

OPERATING SYSTEM:

HARDWARE

LANGUAGE TRANSLATORS:

UTILITY PROGRAMS:

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES:

Systems Software
operating systems
utility programs

Operating System Software

manages and controls the activities of the computer, including booting up
allocation and assignment of all devices scheduling monitoring

Operating System Software

Operating system software controls application software and manages how the hardware devices work together
Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft Microsoft Mac OS Linux Windows Windows Windows Windows 2000 Pro 2000 ME XP Home XP Pro

Utility Software
Utility software adds additional functionality to the operating system Crash-proof Disk image Disk optimization Encrypt data File and data recovery Text protect Preventative security Spyware Uninstaller
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Graphical User Interface

GUI
the part of the operating system that the user interacts with that uses icons and mouse to issue commands and make selections

used to be command driven

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If a CPU can only process one instruction at a time. How can be more than one user on a machine? How can one user on a single machine be doing more than one thing at a time?
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Multi - Tasking
TRADITIONAL SINGLEPROGRAM SYSTEM MULTIPROGRAMMING ENVIRONMENT

OPERATING SYSTEM

PROGRAM 1

OPERATING SYSTEM

PROGRAM 1

PROGRAM 2 PROGRAM 3

UNUSED MEMORY

UNUSED MEMORY
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Multi-Tasking
How is this done?
Concurrent use of resources time sharing virtual storage

It just looks like everything is happening at once. It really isnt.

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If you have more than one processor

Multi Processing
split program among more than one processors Computer utilization will be much faster Requires special software and hardware

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APPLICATION SOFTWARE
Application software is used for specific information processing needs, including:
Payroll Customer relationship management Project management Training Word processing and many others

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APPLICATION SOFTWARE
Personal productivity software - used to perform personal tasks such as writing a memo, creating a graph, or creating a slide presentation

Examples:
Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel Internet Explorer Quicken
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APPLICATION SOFTWARE
Vertical market software - application software that is unique to a particular industry
Patient-scheduling software Nursing allocation software

Horizontal market software - general enough to be suitable for use in a variety of industries
Inventory management software Payroll software
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Generations of Application Software

First - Machine Language (1940s)
Written for a specific machine - programs were written using 1s and 0s Written for a specific machine, used commands instead of 1s and 0s Portable, and written with regular words using sentence-like structure GUI Interface - users can write their own applications

Second - Assembly Language (1950s) Third Generation Languages (60-70s)

Fourth Generation Languages (80 90s)

Fifth Generation - Query Language and Natural Language (90s +)

Almost no programming skills required (ASK.COM)

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3rd Generation Languages

Fortran COBOL BASIC PL/1 Pascal C Lisp/Prolog Mathematical Formulas Business Applications teaching language general purpose language teaching language portable, microcomputers Artificial Intelligence
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Assembly Language

FORTRAN Language

COBOL Language

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Fourth Generation Languages

allows end-users to develop applications on their own

quickly

offers dramatic productivity gains (over 500%) Access Internet Explorer SAS SPSS SAP FOCUS Front Page Word Perfect
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Software Tips
1. Make sure your hardware system has the capacity to handle the software. 2. Make sure you are buying the most recent version. 3. Determine what kind of support is offered. 4. For non-standard software ask for references. 5. Whenever possible buy rather than develop. 6. Find out if the current data and documents are easily transferable to the new system.
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