ICT 141

COMPUTING SKILLS FUNDAMENTALS I

FACULTY OF SCIENCE

Lecture 8: Computer Software

Computing Skills Fundamentals 1

Lecture Outline

 Types of Software (re-cap)

 System Software
 Application Software
 Categories of application software

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Computer Software
■ Application software is software that has been
developed to solve a particular problem for users—to
perform useful work on specific tasks or to provide
entertainment.
■ System software runs at the most basic level of your
computer and enables the application software to
interact with the computer and helps the computer to
manage its internal and external resources, as well
as manage the hardware.

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SystemSoftware

 Collection of programs that manage the computer

 Provides foundation for the running of application
software
 Such as printing a document, saving a file, etc.
 Examples of system software:
 Operating system
 Utility programs
 Device drivers
 Program translation software

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1.Operating systems: An
operating system is the
principal component of system
software in any computing
system.
2. Device drivers: Device drivers
help the computer control
peripheral devices.
3. Utility programs: Utility
programs are generally used to
support, enhance, or expand
existing programs in a computer
system.
■ The operating system manages the entire computer system.
■ The operating system (OS) consists of the low-level, master
system of programs that manage the basic operations of
the computer.
– Every general-purpose computer must have OS to run
other programs.
– OS allows users to concentrate on applications rather
than on complexities of the computer.
– Each application program is written to run on top of a
particular OS.
■ The OS manages (Functions of OS):
– Booting
– CPU management
– File management 6

– Task management
– Security management
Booting
■ The process of loading an OS into the computer’s
main memory
■ Booting involves four steps:
1.Turn the computer on.
2.Diagnostic routines test main memory, CPU, and
other hardware.
3.Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) programs are
copied to main memory.
– BIOS contains instructions for operating the
hardware.
– The computer needs those instructions to
operate the hardware and find a copy of the OS.
4.Boot program obtains the OS and loads it into
computer’s main memory. 7
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Some useful OS programs

 Bootstrap program
◦ Stored in ROM
◦ Program loaded at machine start-up / reboot
◦ Loads the Kernel & starts its execution
 Kernel
◦ A program that runs on a computer at all times

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■ CPU Management
– CPU is the central processing unit.
– Supervisor (kernel) is the software that manages CPU
■ Remains in memory while the computer runs
■ Directs other programs not in memory to perform
tasks that support application programs
■ Memory Management
■ OS keeps track of memory locations to prevent
programs and data from overlapping each other
■ Swaps portions of programs and data into the
same memory but at different times
■ Keeps track of virtual memory
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■ File Management
– A file is either a
■ Data File: a named collection of data
■ Program File: a program that exists in a
computer’s secondary storage
– Files are located in many places on
secondary storage devices; OS locates files
and facilitates access to them
– The file system arranges files in a
hierarchical manner
■ Top level is directories (folders)
■ Subdirectories come below folders
– Find files using their pathname. Example:
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C:/MyDocuments/Termpaper/section1.doc
■ Task Management
– Computers are required to perform many different
tasks at once—to do task management.
– Task: An operation such as storing, printing, or
calculating
– Multitasking: Handling more than one program
concurrently
■ Example: You do word processing while playing
music on your computer.
■ OS directs processor to alternate time on each
program until processing is complete.

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■ Security Management
– Operating Systems permit users to control
access to their computers.
– Users gain access using an ID and password.
– You set the password the first time you boot up
a new computer.
– After that, when you boot up, you’ll be prepared
to type in your username and password.

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Other functions of the OS
 Resource allocation and management
◦ Processes
◦ Storage
◦ Memory
◦ Devices
 Control program
execution and
other Computer
activities

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OS Examples

i. Desktop OS
Windows

Mac Linux

ii. Mobile OS

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Windows 11 is out

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Classification of OS
 2 broad groups

a) Single-user OS
◦ Only one person can use the computer at a time

b) Multi-user OS
◦ Allow more than one person to use the
computer simultaneously
◦ Originally common in mainframes

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Types of OS
i. Single user/single tasking OS
◦ One user at a time
 Performing one task a time
◦ E.g.:
 MS-DOS, Palm OS

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ii. Single user/ multitasking OS
◦ Multitasking  timesharing/multiprogramming
◦ One user at a time BUT more than one task at a
time
 Type a letter, listen to music & watch a video
concurrently
◦ Common in PCs
◦ E.g.: Windows,
Linux &
Mac OS X

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iii. Multi user/Multitasking OS
◦ Many users can connect to the computer
simultaneously
 Each can run multiple applications
◦ Most common in
mainframe or
supercomputers
◦ Eg: UNIX, Linux, VMS

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iv. Multi-processing OS
◦ 2 or more CPUs (processors) can be used
◦ CPUs simultaneously execute several programs
◦ E.g.: Linux, Unix, Windows 2000, Windows XP
& Mac OS X

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v. Network OS
◦ Allow many PCs to share resources
◦ Aware of network resources (PCs, peripherals)
◦ E.g.: Windows 2008 Server, Netware

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v. Real-time OS
◦ For executing real-time applications
 E.g. ATMs, flight control, MP3 player, medical
devices, vehicle control system, etc
◦ Built into devices
◦ Quick response to user input/request
◦ E.g.: Symbian OS, PalmOS, Windows CE, etc

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■ Graphical User Interface (GUI)
– Allows you to use a mouse or keystrokes to select icons
and commands from menus.
– Three main features of GUI are desktop, icons, and
menus.
■ Desktop: The system’s main interface screen.
■ Icons: Small pictorial figures that represent
programs, data files, or procedures.
■ Rollover: A small text box that explains the icon
when you roll your mouse over it.
■ Menus: Lists of built-in commands and/or options
from which to choose pull-down, cascading, pull-up,
pop-up.

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 Command-Line Interface
◦ Data and commands entered by typing and
pressing command string & special keys via
keyboard
◦ User need to know these commands (creating
directories, copying & move files, etc)

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b) Device Drivers
– Specialized software programs that allow input and
output devices to communicate with the rest of the
computer system.
– When you buy a computer, many device drivers come
with the system software.
– Device drivers also come with new hardware (on
CDs/DVDs) or can be downloaded from the
manufacturer’s website.

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c) Utilities
 Developed to help configure, analyse, optimise or
perform computer maintenance
◦ For a specific maintenance-related task that is related
to managing the computer

 Examples
◦ File Manager
◦ Uninstaller
◦ Antivirus Software
◦ File compression tools
◦ Pop-up blocker
◦ Backup utility
◦ Firewall

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d) ProgramTranslators

 Programs written using programming language

◦ Relatively close to English in syntax.
◦ E.g.:
 C++, Java

 A translator
◦ convert a program written in a human
understandable language (source code) into
computer understandable language (machine
code)

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Example: Java Program
 Source code

 Machine code

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Application software
 Application Software: applied to real-world user tasks
 created for a specific user task
 AKA application packages

Type Uses Examples

Document Word processing, Ms Word, WordPerfect,
production desktop publishing, FrontPage, Apache
etc OpenOffice Writer, etc.
Numerical Numerical data Ms Excel, Lotus-1-2-3, SPSS,
Analysis processing etc
Presentation Presentations Ms Powerpoint, OpenOffice
Impress, Corel Presentations
Databases computer databases Ms Access, Oracle, DB2, etc
processing
Graphics Drawing, photo Paint, CorelDraw, AutoCAD,
editing, CAD, etc. etc
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Categories of application software
 Generic/packages
◦ For general-purpose functions needed by many
people
◦ Ready made
◦ AKA off-the-shelf software, or pre-packaged
◦ E.g. word processing applications
 Custom
◦ Software specifically created/customised for
some company
◦ AKA tailor-made software or bespoke software
◦ E.g. BTC billing system, UB student management
system, etc.

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Other classes of application software
 Open source software
 Freely available from the internet
 Anyone can modify & even distribute to
others
 Examples: Moodle, Linux,
FrontlineSMS, WordPress

 Web application software

 Software that runs on a remote internet
server rather than on a person’s own personal
computer.
 For applications that uses a web-browser
 Examples: Dropbox & Google Docs 32
 In-house
 Application developed using the user
company’s resources
 IT department
 Proprietary software
 Licenced software under exclusive rights of the
owner/developer
 May not be copied/distributed with their
approval
 Rentalware
 Online software that users lease for a
fee and download whenever they want it.

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 Freeware
◦ Freely available for use
◦ Users NOT allowed to sell it to others
 Developer has copyright
◦ E.g. some anti-virus applications

 Shareware
◦ Copyrighted software that is distributed free for
a trial period, but users must then pay the
software developer to continue using it.
◦ Available for free
◦ BUT developer may request users to register and
pay a small fee for future upgrades

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 Integrated software packages (software
suites)
 A collection of software applications
 Have common features
 Examples:
 Microsoft Office 2010
 Corel WordPerfect Office X7
 Apache OpenOffice

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