Computer Basics | Software
Software refers to the instructions that a computer processes to perform various tasks. Sets of instructions are known as programs. Software programs receive, process, and output data. There are two types of software...
Application software is available to the user. Application software includes programs for word processing, spreadsheets, databases, web authoring, and multimedia.
System software is available to the computer. System software includes programs such as the kernel, device drivers, system call interface, and language libraries.
Software programs are created as source code from any number of programming languages. A computer only understands machine language. All programming languages must be translated into machine language before processing. There are two methods of translation...
A compiler is a program that translates a computer language into another computer language. The translation is from source code to object code. The compiled program may be used repeatedly without further translation. Compiled programs are faster than an interpreter.
An interpreter is a program that directly interprets the source code, without being translated into another computer language. The interpreted program is used each time a program runs. Interpreted programs are more flexible than a compiler.
The OS (operating system) is the main software program that manages all of a computer's hardware and software resources. The OS allocates RAM for each running program. Computers have a user interface that enable users to interact with the OS, as well as with other software programs. There are two types of user interfaces...
A GUI (graphical user interface) enables user interaction by clicking on graphic icons and menu items using a mouse and keyboard.
A CUI (command-line user interface) enables user interaction by entering text commands using a keyboard.
There are two types of programming...
Procedural programming is linear.
Object-Orientated Programming is dynamic.
