Difference between Software and Program: If we talk about our daily uses, then software and

program can be used interchangeably. But there is a huge difference in between software and

program in technical language.

As software is a collection of programs and data files that are designed to perform some operations

and on the other hand, program is a set of instructions that perform only a specific task that it is

made for. In this article, we will discuss the basic difference between Software and Program in

tabular format to make it easily understandable.

S. No. Software Program

The software is a broad term which is designed A program is set of instructions which perform only a
1
to perform some specific set of operations. specific type of task.

A software consists of bundles of programs and

A program consists of a set of instructions which are
data files. Programs in a specific software use
2 coded in a programming language like C, C++, PHP,
these data files to perform a dedicated type of
Java etc.
tasks.

A software can be classified into two

A program cannot be classified into various
3 categories: application software and system
categories.
software.
 An application software comes in wide range of
varieties like a text editor, media player, web
browser, video player, video editor, image
editor. Different types of application software
provide a different type of services.

A system software acts as an interface between

hardware and an application software.

4
Whenever a user wants to do a specific job, he Source code in a program is written for small jobs.

gives commands to application software. These

commands are delivered to application software

via system software. All of the system software

provide same kind of services. An operating

system is a type of system software.

Examples of “application software” are:

Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Google
Chrome, VLC media player, Firefox, Adobe Program showing whether a given number is even or
Reader etc. odd, program to find factorial of a number, program
5 to find greatest of all given numbers, program to
Examples of “system software” are: Windows, check whether a given number is palindrome or not;
are few examples of the program.
Linux, Unix, Mac etc.

A software is developed by either a single

A program is developed and also used by either a
6 programmer or a group of programmers but it is
single programmer or a group of programmers.
developed for a naïve user.
 Every software has a dedicated user interface.
The user interface of a software may be in the
7 Programs don’t have a user interface.
form of command prompt or in a graphical
format.

Software development life cycle (SDLC) is used

8 SDLC is not used to make programs.
to develop every software.

A software is not compiled when we give it

commands to perform specific operations. A program is compiled every time when we need to
9
However, a whole software is compiled, tested generate some output from it.
and debugged in the development process.

So it was all about Difference between Software and Program. If you have doubt then please

comment below or add more difference between program and software.