What Is Computer Software?

Date First Published: 16th November 2023

Topic: Computer Systems

Subtopic: Computer Software

Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty: Easy

Difficulty Level: 1/10

CONTENTS

Types Of Computer Software
Software Licences
How Is Software Installed?
Can A Computer Work Without Software?
History

Learn about what computer software is in this article.

Computer software refers to the programs and applications that run on a computer in order for it to be used. Software is intangible with no physical element and only exists as digital data to instruct the hardware what to do. Software accepts input from the user and returns output for the benefit of the user.

Types Of Computer Software

The most common types of software are:

System software - The most important type of software installed on a computer. System software directly controls the hardware and provides an environment or platform for all the other types of software to work in. The operating system, BIOS, and device drivers are examples of system software.
Utility software - A type of software specifically designed to help configure, manage, optimise, and maintain a computer.
Application software - Software designed to fulfil a specific need or perform specific tasks other than one relating to the operation or maintenance of a computer. Installing application software in addition to an operating system gives a computer extra capabilities. Word processors, web browsers, image editors, and video players are examples of application software.
Productivity software - A type of software that is designed to allow users to produce things. It is most often used for businesses to allow tasks to be completed more efficiently. Word processors, spreadsheet software, presentation software, and database software are examples of productivity software.
Driver software - A type of software without a user interface that enables the operating system and a hardware device to communicate with each other.
Programming software - Software used to enable developers to develop, write, test and debug other software programs.

Software Licences

Software is made available to users through some form of licence. The two main types of software licences are:

Open-source - A type of software that is made freely available to use, modify, and distribute to the public for personal, educational, or organisation use without restrictions.
Proprietary - A type of software that remains the property of its developer, meaning that it is not made freely available to modify and distribute to others.

How Is Software Installed?

Software can be installed by downloading it over the internet, running the setup file, and starting the installation process. Once the installation process has finished, the software is ready to use. Software can also be purchased at a computer store which comes with a physical box containing the software CD or DVD and an instructions booklet along with the registration key to register the software when installing it, but this is not as common now and it is possible to directly pay for and download most commercial software from the company's website.

How Is Software Created?

Most software is written in high-level programming languages. The high-level language is then translated into low-level machine code using a compiler or interpreter so that the computer can understand it. A computer programmer writes the instructions using a programming language, which defines how the software should operate on structured data.

Can A Computer Work Without Software?

Without any software, a computer would be useless. Software allows a computer to perform tasks and interact with the hardware. A computer needs an operating system that allows both the user and software to interact with the computer hardware.

History

Software has been around since the early days of computing. The first program held in electronic memory was written by Tom Kilburn. The program calculated the highest factor of the integer 2 to the power of 18 (262,144), and successfully ran on 21st June 1948 at the University of Manchester, England.

Software became more popular and widely available in the 1970s and 1980s with the arrival of personal computers. Apple released Apple II in 1977, an 8-bit home computer and one of the world’s first successful mass-produced microcomputer products. VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet software for personal computers, was released for the Apple II in 1979.

In the 1990s, open-source software became more common. The Linux kernel, the basis for the open-source Linux operating system, was released in 1991. After the 1998 publication of the source code for the Netscape Navigator Browser, interest in open-source software increased. CD-ROMs became the standard method of distributing software and could hold much more data than floppy disks, allowing large software programs to be distributed quickly and easily.

In 2010, the use of CDs and DVDs to distribute software started to decline and more users started to buy software from the internet and the cloud. Subscription-based models and SaaS have become more common.