Hardware: The physical
components of the computer are known as Hardware. It refers to the objects that
we can actually touch.
Ex: input and output devices, processors, circuits and the
cables.
Software: Software is
a program or set of instructions that causes the Hardware to function in a
desired way. The basic difference between the Hardware and Software is just the
same as that exists between TV and TV studio. Without TV studio (software) from
where the programs are telecast, the TV (Hardware) is a dead machine.
There are five categories of software.They are:
1. Operating System
2. Translators
3. Utility programs
4. Application programs
5. General purpose program
Operating
System (OS): The software that manages the resources of a computer
system and schedules its operation is called Operating system.
Translators:
Computers can understand instructions only when they are written in their own
language – the machine language. Therefore, a program written in any other
language should be translated into machine language. The software that
―translates‖ the instructions of different languages is known as translators.
There
are two types of translators. They are compilers and Interpreters
Programming
Languages: There are three types of programming languages.
1. Machine Languages: Computers respond
only to machine language. This language is in terms of binary codes (0, 1).
2. Assembly Languages: It uses mnemonic
codes rather than numeric codes (as in machine languages). Ex. Add or A is used
as a symbol for addition.
3. High Level Languages (HLL): These
are referred as problem oriented languages (POL).
Several High Level Languages which are in
common use:
FORTRAN: FORmula TRANslation
COBOL: Common Business Oriented Language
BASIC: Beginner‘s All purpose
Symbolic Instruction Code
PROLOG: PROgramming in LOGic
ALGOL: ALGOrithmic Language
Utility
Programs: These are pre-written programs supplied by the
manufacturer for maintaining day to day activities of computer system.
Example:
COPY, SORT, MAILING, virus scanning software etc.
Application
Programs: These are user written programs to do a specific job which
can be changed to meet the individual needs. These programs are written in
different languages such as BASIC or C or by using database packages like
dBASE, Oracle.
Example:
Payroll, Billing, Railway Reservation etc.
5.
General Purpose Packages: These packages are developed to suit the
needs of research workers / scientists in different fields. These packages are
categorized as:
i)
Data Analysis
ii)
Word Processing
iii)
Spread Sheet
iv)
Graphics and
v)
Databases