Computer software is a term used to describe a collection of programs,
procedures and documentation that perform a task on a computer system. Many different elements in a computer system
could be included in this definition such as application programs that run particular computer tasks, operating
systems that act as the environment inside a computer and other programs such as middleware that co-ordinate and
act as a medium between different applications.
A day in the life of a computer software
engineer
Computer software is more easily defined when it is used in contrast to the term computer
hardware. Hardware encompasses the physical devices and connections in a computer system; the hard disks,
motherboard, the CD ROM drive, anything which actually has a material presence, anything that you can touch.
Computer software in comparison is the untouchable, the virtual and information based structures that work along
side the hardware in order for a computer to perform its functions. There are many different types of computer
software although the boundaries between these is sometimes blurry. All existing computing software is often split
up into three categories for easier analysis.
Most people probably think of application software when they hear the term computer software. These are the
everyday programs that a user will normally interact with in order to accomplish their tasks. All computer users
use applications in one way of another, from word processors to email programs and Internet browsers. Application
programs are the kind of software that people can recognise, they have an identifiable objective and a little icon
on their desktop that normally has to be clicked before they can be run.
System software is another group and can include operating systems, drivers and serverside systems. The third type
is known as programming software, it includes among other things compilers and specialised text editors that are
only really relevant to someone who is writing a computer program. As I said these distinctions can often be blurry
and there are many desktop applications that have been incorporated into operating system designs.
Computer software is available for so many different things that providing any kind of list is never going to be
comprehensive. However you can easily list the most popular computer software on the market. Business is still the
biggest user of computer software and for this reason the Office package by Microsoft is the best seller. Adobe
Photoshop comes in fairly near the top as well and is used in business for design purposes. The major operating
systems by Microsoft and Apple are also very popular as well as some of the bigger names in antivirus
applications.
Computer software has to be loaded into a computer's storage system in order to work. The software will then apply
certain instructions that will be executed and passed down the line to the system software and eventually to the
hardware. It is there that these instructions are executed in machine code where the solution then makes its way
back up the software chain. The computer program that passed these instructions will then receive the results back
and put them in a language that a human user can understand and in an interface that they will be able to
comprehend.
