Technology is changing and updating itself at a
breakneck speed and as a result of this,
unimaginable things are now not only becoming
possible but also extremely convenient. The
computer which happens to be the biggest gift of
technology to mankind consists of two main parts namely the software and the hardware. While the
hardware deals with the physical part of the
functioning of a computer, the software is
responsible for conveying to the hardware about
the tasks that have to be performed. In simple
words, the hardware is the body of the computer while the computer software is the part that tells
the brain what to do. Hence, it is obvious that the
software forms the central part of the efficient
working of any computer.
The main function of the software is to translate
directions and concepts to the hardware so that the task can be performed appropriately. This
function includes converting the language we can
understand into computer language in order to
make it possible for the hardware to understand
the nature of the function to be performed. It is
now made evident that without the required computer software, it is impractical to operate a
computer. Now let us try and understand how this
software is created. The people who are in charge
of designing and creating software are the
compute programmers that make use of a unique
programming language. While making the software, this programmer writes his programs
with the help of commands that are written in
simple language which is very easy for any of us to
understand. The technical name for these
commands is ’source code. ’ After the process of
expressing data with the help of the source code is complete, a program known as ’compiler’ is used
on this code so that the data can be translated
into a language that can be understood by the
computer hardware.
Again, the computer software can be divided into
two sub categories: the system software and the application software. The system software is the
software which is entitled with the task of helping
the hardware function systematically whereas the
application software consists of all the other
tasks that have to be performed by the computer
users except the functioning of the hardware. Some people believe that programming software is
also a constituent of the types of software while
the others think otherwise.
