Software - Purpose and Types (Class 11 Informatics Practices)

In this post, you will learn about "what is the computer", "types of software" and  "Operating System".  

What is Software

Software is required to perform any specific task on the computer. 

• Software is a group of instructions and programs, that instruct a  computer to complete a particulate task.
• It gives the user the ability to work on the computer.
• Programs that are required to operate the hardware of the computer, those programs are called software.  

As human can't exist without a brain, so as a computer without software.

Example:-

We use computers for various purposes and all these types of work cannot be done with the help of only one software.

Therefore different software is made according to the need of the work.

We can neither see the software with our eyes nor touch it with our hands.

The necessity of software -:

If there is no software on the computer, then the computer will become like an empty box and it will not perform any task.

Different software is required to perform different work on the computer.

Types of Software

There are two types of software -:

Application Software -:

• Application software is a program or group of programs designed for the end-user.
• It is a software designed for the help of a user.
• It can perform only one specific task.
• Users can see and they perform tasks in front of the user.
• There are different software for different uses.

Example    

If you want to do photos related works, then use for Photoshop.

If you want to see videos, then use a media player.

System Software -:

• All the Softwares which make our Operating System are called System software.
• They are used to operate the Computer Hardware and Application program and it allows the OS to interact with computer hardware.
• Users can not see it, it runs in the background.
• The system software automatically installed, when you install the operating system.

Operating System

• Operating System is a System Software.
• The Operating system act as an intermediary between the users and the computer system.
• It explains our instructions to the computer.
• The operating system controls and operates the entire computer.
• When the user gives instructions to the computer, the conversation between the hardware and operating system, we and the user do not know about it, because this information is useless for us. therefore it is hidden, thus we can see only the answer and the output.
• How much to memory allocated to a particular task, which hardware to inform. the operating system does all this work.
• maintain all devices connected to the computer.

How does the operating system work

You can easily understand the working of an Operating System by the below-given diagram. As we know OS (Operating System) provides the user with an interface to interact with the computer hardware so that the user can use the Hardware according to his need.

Operating System of any computer is used to directly interact with the Hardware. Different software applications can be installed on the OS of any computer. The user of the computer interact with the Applications and in turn, these applications interact with OS which gives necessary instructions to Computer Hardware.