Week-7

 Computer Software
 Software
 Types of Software
 System Software
 Operating System
 Utility Programs

 Software
 Computer Instructions or data, anything that can be stored
electronically is called Software.
 The term software refers to the computer programs, routines
and packages required to utilize and control the operation of the
computer system.
 Such as DOS, Windows, MS-Office or user developed programs.
 Computer program is the sequences of instructions for the
computer, which comprise software.
 Package is a commonly used term for a computer program (or
group of programs) that have been developed by a vendor and is
available for purchase in a prepackaged form.

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 Types of Software

 System Software divided into two types

 System Software

 Application Software

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 System Software
 System Software includes the Operating System and all the
utilities that enable the computer to function.
 System software is a term referring to any computer software
which manages and controls the hardware so that application
software can perform a task.
 Example:

Operating Systems, Utility Programs

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Computer Software Relationships

User Interface Application Programs

User Interface Operating System

User Basic Input and Output Services (BIOS)

Interface • needed for a computer to boot up

Computer Hardware

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 System Software (Cont’d)

 Operating System
 It is an integrated set of programs that use to manage the
various resources and overall operations of a computer system.
 Operating System is a software, which makes a computer to
actually work.

 It is the software the enables all the programs we use.

 The OS organizes and controls the hardware.

 OS acts as an interface between the application programs and

the machine hardware.

 Examples: Windows, Linux, Unix and Mac OS, etc…

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 System Software (Cont’d)

 What OS does?
 An operating system performs basic tasks such as,
 Controlling and allocating memory,
 Prioritizing system requests,
 Controlling input and output devices,
 Facilitating networking and
 Managing file systems

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 System Software (Cont’d)

Structure of Operating System

User

Application Software

System Software

HARDWARE

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 System Software (Cont’d)

 The structure of OS consists of 4 layers:

 Hardware
 Hardware consists of CPU, Main memory, I/O Devices, etc,
 System Software
 Software includes process management routines, memory
management routines, I/O control routines, file management
routines.
 Application programs
 This is dependent on users need.
 Ex. Railway reservation system, Bank database management etc..

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 System Software (Cont’d)

 The bootstrap program is stored in ROM and supplies the

instructions to load the OS
 The kernel provides the most essential operating system
services
 Memory management
 File access

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 System Software (Cont’d)

 Types of Operating System

 Operating System can also be classified as:
 Single User Systems
 Multi User Systems

 Single User Systems

 Provides a platform for only one user at a time.
 They are popularly associated with Desk Top operating
system which run on standalone systems where no user
accounts are required.
 Example: DOS,
 MAC operating system was single user operating system.
Apple MAC operating system users, used menu & icons rather
than commands.
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 System Software (Cont’d)

 Multi User Systems

 The operating system through which many users can work
with single computer at a time is called Multi User
Operating System.
 Provides regulated access for a number of users by
maintaining a database of known users.

 Refers to computer systems that support two or more

simultaneous users.

 Another term for multi-user is time sharing.

 Ex: All mainframes are multi-user systems.

 Example: Unix, Windows NT, Linux etc…

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 System Software (Cont’d)

 Multitasking/ multiprogramming: The management of two or

more tasks, or programs, running concurrently on the computer
system (one CPU).

 Multithreading: A form of multitasking that runs multiple tasks

within a single application simultaneously.

 Multiprocessing: simultaneous processing of more than one

program by assigning them to different processors (multiple
CPUs).

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 System Software (Cont’d)

 Utility Programs
 An Utility Program is a type of software that
performs a specific task, usually related to
managing or maintaining the computer system.
 Utility Programs are often built into in operating
system,
 For example, Utility Program for finding files,
troubleshooting, and repairing system problems
etc…

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