Chapter 4

Computer Software

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2013 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Learning Objectives
Describe several important trends
occurring in computer software.
Give examples of several major types of
application and system software.
Explain the purpose of several popular
software packages for end-user
productivity and collaborative
computing.
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Learning Objectives
Define and describe the functions of an
operating system.
Describe the main uses of computer
programming software, tools, and
languages.
Describe the issues associated with
open-source software.

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 Section 1
Application Software: End-user Applications

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I. Introduction to Software

What is Software? – software is

programs – instructions that tell the
computer and associated peripherals
what to do
Types of Software
System Software – programs that run the
computer
Application Software – programs perform a
function/job for you
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I. Introduction to Software
Application Software for End Users
 General Purpose Application Programs –
perform common information processing
jobs for end users
Productivity Package – increases productivity of
user

Application-Specific Software – does a

specific function

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I. Introduction to Software
Custom Software – designed and created
specifically to do a particular job for one
company

Commercial Off-the-Shelf Software (COTS) –

developed to sell many copies (usually for
profit); source code may not be modified by
user

Open Source Software – anyone may

modify the software, the documentation
and source code are available to anyone

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I. Introduction to Software

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II. Business Application Software
Available to support any part of business

Reengineer/Automate Business Processes

Customer Relationship management (CRM)
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Supply Chain Management (SCM)

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II. Business Application Software

Internal Organizational Activities

Human Resource management (HRM)
Accounting
Finance

Decision Support tools

Data Mining
Enterprise Information Portals
Knowledge Management Systems

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SAP Business Suite 7: Introducing Modular
Scenarios Cutting Across Organizational
Functions

What is Business Suite 7?

What does Business Suite 7 provide?
How does this help the organization?
What is the Need that this product fills?

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III. Software Suites and Integrated
Packages
Software Suites – bundle together a variety of
general-purpose software applications
Advantages:
Lower cost than buying each package individually
All the programs use a common graphical user interface
(GUI)
The programs are designed to work together

Disadvantages:
Many features are never used
Suites take up a lot of disk space

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III. Software Suites and Integrated
Packages
Integrated Packages – combine some but not
all of the functions of several programs; offer
advantages in a smaller package
Less powerful than software suites – leave out
some functions

Take up less disk space than software suites

Cost less than software suites

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IV & V. Web Browsers & E-Mail

Web Browsers – the most widely used

software (even more than email)

Electronic Mail, Instant Messaging, and Blogs

 Email – has changed the way people communicate
 Instant Messaging (IM) – email/computer-conferencing
hybrid
 Blog – short for Weblog or Web Log – a personal or
commercial website on a particular topic or range of topics,
frequently updated

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VI. Word Processing and Desktop
Publishing
Word Processing – creation, revision, editing,
and printing of documents; spell checkers and
grammar checkers, thesaurus

Desktop Publishing – produce printed

documents that look professionally published

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VII & VIII. Spreadsheets and
Presentation Graphics
Spreadsheets – used for analysis, planning,
and modeling; calculations, graphics, what-if
scenarios

Presentation Graphics – convert numeric data

into graphics displays for easy and intuitive
comprehension

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IX & X. Personal Information Managers
(PIM) and Groupware
Personal Information Managers (PIM) – help
end-users store, organize, and retrieve basic
personal and business information

Groupware – helps workgroups and teams

collaborate

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XI. Software Alternatives
 Application Service Providers – provide necessary
applications for a fee (rather than a firm developing or
purchasing the s/w)

 Cloud Computing – a recent advance in computing and

software delivery; software and virtualized hardware
are provided as a service over the Internet; “cloud” is a
metaphor for the Internet

 Software Licensing – a complex topic involving

copyrights, trademarks, and intellectual property
rights; in most cases software is not purchased but
“licensed” for use under very specific circumstances

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McAfee Inc.: Security under a Software-
as-a-Service Model

 What SaaS does McAfee offer?

 What are the advantages of this service?

 How is different from other products on the market?

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 Australian Maritime Safety Authority:
Cloud Computing? Nothing New

 What need did AMSA have?

 How did a cloud service provide for this need?

 What were the cost differentials between in-house

development and the SaaS version?

 What were the risks of using the SaaS version?

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 Section 2
System Software: Computer System
Management

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I. System Software Overview

System Management Programs –

programs that manage the hardware,
software, network, and data resources
System Development Programs –
programs that help users develop IS
programs and procedures; CASE tools

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I. System Software Overview

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II. Operating Systems – programs that run
the computer operations
Operating Systems Functions –
User Interface – how the user
communicates with the computer
Graphical User Interface (GUI)
Command-driven
Menu Driven
Resource Management – manages the
hardware and network resources
File Management – controls the creation,
deletion, and access of files of the data and
programs 4-24
II. Operating Systems – programs that run
the computer operations
Operating Systems Functions –
Task Management – manages which tasks
are performed and when
Multitasking (Multiprogramming or
Timesharing) – programs take turns using the
processor
Preemptive – each program gets a slice of time
Cooperative – programs use the processor when it is
not being used by another program
Virtual Machines- applications run
independently at the same time

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II. Operating Systems – programs that run
the computer operations
Unix – a multitasking, multiuser,
portable (runs on different hardware
platforms) operating system
Linux – low-cost, reliable, powerful,
open-source UNIX-like operating system
Open-Source Software – source code is
available to users, can be modified by
users

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II. Operating Systems – programs that run
the computer operations
OpenOffice.org 3 – an open-source office
suite, may be used entirely free without
any license fees
Mac OS X – the latest OS from Apple for
Macintosh computers
Application Virtualization – software
technologies that allow applications to
run on various platforms

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 Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children:
Challenges in Making Virtualization Work
What is the biggest problem with
virtualization at “Sick Kids”?
What is another problem?
What does this tell you about many
vendors? Why would they do this?
What’s the problem with data
migration? Why is this a continuing
problem?

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III. Other System Management Programs

Utilities – system management programs

marketed separately from an operating
system
Middleware – helps diverse software
work together more efficiently

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IV. Programming Languages
Machine Languages – first generation language
– instructions written in binary (0’s and 1’s);
runs directly on the computer
Assembler Languages – second generation
language – uses symbols/mnemonics to
represent operational codes; converted into
binary by an Assembler
High-Level Languages – third generation
language – BASIC, COBOL, FORTRAN;
converted into binary by Compliers and
Interpreters; users tell the computer What
results they want and How to get there
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IV. Programming Languages
Fourth-Generation Languages (4GL) – non-
procedural languages; users tell the computer
What results they want, but the computer
decides How to get there
Fifth Generation Languages (5GL) – natural
languages, very close to English,
conversational
Object-Oriented Languages (5GL) – combine
the data elements and the programs that act
on them into Objects; Reusability

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 Modern (and Automatic?) Code
Generation

Why is automatic code generation

important?
Why would this be important for non-
programmers?

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V. Web and Internet Languages and Services
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) – a page
description language (markup languages are
NOT programming languages)

XML (eXtensible Markup Language) –

describes the Content of Web pages by
applying contextual labels to the data

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Aptara Inc.: Revolutionizing the Publishing
Industry through XML

Why are traditional publishing houses

experiencing lower sales?
Why is a shift to digital publishing a
challenge?
What opportunities are to be found?
Why is this good for the user/customer?
What does .xml have to do with this?

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V. Web and Internet Languages and Services
Java and .NET
Java – a platform independent, object-oriented
programming language; very powerful
Applets – small Java programs that can be
executed by any computer running any OS
anywhere on the network
.NET – Microsoft’s collection of programming
support for Web services

Web Services – software that electronically

links applications of different users and
different platforms
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V. Web and Internet Languages and Services

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 Airbus: Flying on SAP and Web Services

Why does Airbus like an open

architecture?
Why did Airbus want a Web-services
based travel management system?
What benefits does this system provide?

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VI. Programming Software
Language Translator Programs –
instructions must be translated into
binary to be executed by the computer
Assembler – translates symbolic
instructions written in assembly language
Compiler – translates high level language
statements; translates the entire program
(Source code) into binary (Object code) then
executes the entire binary program

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VI. Programming Software
Interpreter – translates and executes one
line of the program at a time
Programming Tools – help programmers
identify and minimize errors as they
write the code
CASE Tools (Computer-Aided Software
Engineering) – automated software support
tools for developing systems

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