2 Main Types of Software with Examples - The first knowledge sharing application in Vietnam

While working on a computer, we come across various computer software which
helps to ease our tasks and increase the overall efficiency of the work
process. Anything from creating a simple document to surfing the Internet on
a computer system is done using the software.

In this digital or technological era, we are surrounded by different
software, which is even increasing rapidly day by day. No matter what
operating system or platform we use, we are leveraging software and making
our lives easier. Without software, a computer is nothing but a set of
different hardware components.

In this article, we are discussing the different types of software used on
computer systems. However, they are quite similar to each other electronic
devices. Before we discuss the software types, let us understand a quick
introduction to computer software along with its definition:

What is Software?

By definition, “

Software is defined as a collection of data, instructions, programs,
and rules that instruct a computer system or other electronic device to
work efficiently, perform, and carry out specific tasks.

”

In other words, software is a general term that refers to any application,
program, or script running on computer devices to help them perform specific
tasks or process them. It is considered to be the variable part of the
computer system, while the other major part is the hardware which is the
invariable part.

How does Software work?

Computer software is nothing but a separate term for the computer program,
which means some specific set of instructions. Instructions are written in
different languages that can be understood by the computer. Instructions
(commonly called codes) help in giving instructions to the computer to work
and feed data to do the work and satisfy the needs of the users.

The basic logic of all software is to take inputs, process them and provide
output, i.e. Input > Process > Output. For example, consider clicking
the Print button on a computer. The computer takes the document as an input,
then asks users to adjust certain preferences. Thereafter, the given set of
rules is processed and output is provided from the printer as a printed
document on paper.

How many types of Software are there in computers?

There are different types of software based on their classification.
However, if we broadly classify the types of software in a computer, there
are two major types as listed below:

• System Software

• Application Software

What You Will Learn

System Software

System software is usually defined as a set of various programs or
instructions that help to control or manage the hardware devices connected
to the computer and other important resources of the system. Specifically,
it helps in making the working of the computer efficient, enables faster
performance in a secure manner. In addition, the system software also
establishes a platform to run the application software.

System software allows users a variety of options to interact with basic
settings and to give commands to the computer using a graphical user
interface. Users can only interact with general system settings and
services. In addition, the core services and programs of system software
automatically work in the background to manage system processes and
performance.

Characteristics of System Software

The following are the main characteristics or features of the system
software:

• System software is more closely related to system or hardware
components rather than users.

• System software is much faster in performance or processing.

• System software is usually written or developed in a low-level
language so that it can interact with machines at the maximum possible
speed.

• System software does not interact much with the users as compared
to application software. They usually work in the background.

• It is comparatively difficult to manipulate system software as it
is complex to understand or design.

Types of System Software

Now, we already have an idea of what is system software and what are its
features. Let us now understand the different types of system software and
examples, which will help us to understand a little more about system
software:

Types of System Software

Operating System:

An operating system, commonly referred to as an OS, is one of the primary types or examples of system software. It consists
of a set of software designed to handle computer resources and services and
provides a platform for running other applications/software.

Although each operating system operates on programming code and
instructions, most operating systems include a GUI (Graphical User
Interface) that helps users to interact with the OS easily without using
coding directly.

Every electronic device, be it a desktop, laptop, or mobile phone, needs to
have an operating system installed on it to function and provide basic
functionality. The operating system is the first program that runs after the
computer system is booted. The operating system takes control of the entire
computer and efficiently manages all services and resources, such as CPU, memory, storage devices (HDD or SSD), printers, etc.

Some of the popular examples of Operating Systems are listed below:

• MS- Windows

• Android

• macOS

• iOS

• Linux

• Ubuntu

• Unix

• CentOS

Device Drivers:

A device driver is specialized computer software primarily designed to
control specific hardware of a computer system. Computers use different
hardware devices, and each device requires a driver to function
properly.

The most common hardware devices that require device drivers are displays,
graphic cards, sound cards, hard disks, printers, mouse, and keyboards. Users may need to manually install device drivers for some hardware
devices, while for others, the operating system automatically installs a
supported driver. There are two different types of device drivers, namely

Kernel Device Drivers

, and

User Device Drivers

Some of the popular examples of Device Drivers are listed below:

• BIOS
Driver

• Motherboard Driver

• Display Driver

• Sound Card Driver

• Graphics Card Driver

• Printer Drivers

• VIRTUAL Device Drivers

• ROM Drivers

Firmware:

Firmware is known as permanent software or instructions stored in the
motherboard storage or ROM (read-only memory) of the computer system.
However, it is not actually stored permanently as most current computer
systems allow users to update the firmware using a firmware updater.

Firmware Software, like other software, has a set of instructions. Unlike
other software, the primary function of firmware is to check for errors, and
ensure that all necessary hardware devices are working properly as soon as
the user turns on the computer. If everything is working, the firmware wakes
up the system and transfers control to the operating system.

Some of the popular examples of Firmware are listed below:

• BIOS

• UEFI

• Embedded Systems

• Computer Peripherals

• Computer Applications

Programming Language Translators:

Specifically, system software helps convert high-level language code
(human-readable language code) into simple machine-level code and
vice-versa. This conversion is usually performed using programming language
translators or processors.

Programming language translators help convert computer programs written in
high-level programming languages such as Java, C, C++, Python, etc. (also called source code) into instructions that can
be interpreted by machines as object-level code or machine code.

Despite simplifying the code, programming language translators also help to
perform the following tasks: assigning data storage, obtaining diagnostic
reports, obtaining source code and other details related to the program,
identifying system errors during runtime, or rectify, etc.

Examples of programming language translators are listed below:

• Interpreter

• Compiler

• Assembler