GEIT210 - Information Technology and Networking - Application and System Software PDF

Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) Faculty of Arts and Sciences GEIT210 – Information Technology and Networking Fall 2024-2025 Chapter 2: Application Software and System Software  Outline Introduction Application softw...

Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) Faculty of Arts and Sciences GEIT210 – Information Technology and Networking Fall 2024-2025 Chapter 2: Application Software and System Software  Outline Introduction Application software System software USEK GEIT210 3  Introduction Software (also known as applications or programs executed by the hardware) is a set of electronic instructions to tell the computer (hardware) how to process data and how to perform a task (what to do). There are two main types of Software: System Software and Application Software. USEK GEIT210 4  Introduction Application software:  Basic applications: General purpose applications (Word processors, spreadsheets, database management systems, presentation graphics, web browsers), Software suites and Cloud suites  Specialized applications: Special purpose applications (Graphics programs, Multimedia creation, Artificial Intelligence) System software:  Bios (Basic Input Output System)  Utilities  Device drivers  Language translators  Operating system (Windows, MAC OS) USEK GEIT210 5  Introduction You can think of application software as the kind of software you use and system software as the kind of software the computer uses USEK GEIT210 6  Application software Application software is end user software that is used to accomplish a variety of real-world tasks. Two categories of application software: Basic applications: general purpose applications Specialized applications: special purpose applications Also there are Mobile apps that are add-on features or programs designed for a variety of mobile devices. USEK GEIT210 7  Basic Applications  Basic applications are general purpose applications widely used in almost every occupation and all career areas.  Basic applications include: Word processors  Word processors are used to create text-based documents such as memos, letters, reports, …  Most flexible and widely used software tool  Word processing programs: o Microsoft Word (most widely used) o Mac: Pages USEK GEIT210 8  Basic Applications Spreadsheets  Spreadsheets organize, analyze and graph numeric data such as budgets and financial reports using Formulas, functions, charts. It is widely used by almost every profession.  Excel workbook is a collection of worksheets and charts. The worksheet is a set of rows and columns, the intersection of which is called a cell.  Spreadsheet programs: – Microsoft Excel (most widely used) – Mac: Numbers USEK GEIT210 9  Basic Applications Database Management System  A database is a collection of related data used to retrieve information easily.  A Database Management System (DBMS) is a program that structures or sets up the database. It also provides tools to enter, edit, and retrieve data from database.  All kinds of individuals use databases. Ex: Universities use databases to keep records on their students, instructors and courses. Organizations of all types maintain employee databases.  Relational database is most widely used database structure. USEK GEIT210 10  Basic Applications  Data is organized into related tables.  Tables are made up of rows called records, each containing a number of columns called fields.  Database programs: o Microsoft Access (most widely used) o OpenOffice Base o Corel Paradox o Lotus Approach USEK GEIT210 11  Basic Applications Presentation graphics  Presentation graphics are programs that combine visual objects to create interesting and professional presentations for communicating a message.  Presentation programs: o Microsoft PowerPoint (most widely used) o OpenOffice Impress o Apple Keynote o Corel Presentations o Lotus Freelance Graphics USEK GEIT210 12  Basic Applications A Software suite is a group of application programs. The best known is Microsoft Office. Cloud suites or online office suites: o Stored at a server on the internet o Available anywhere you can access the internet o Easy to share created documents and collaborate with others o Ex. Google Docs, Microsoft Office Web Apps o Need an account USEK GEIT210 13  Basic Applications Web Browsers  Web browser programs provide access to Web resources. Allow us to navigate, explore and find information on the Internet.  Address or location of the resource must be specified: URL (Uniform Resource Locator). Example of URL: http://www.usek.edu.lb.  Well-known browsers. – Mozilla’s Firefox – Microsoft’s Internet Explorer – Google’s Chrome – Apple’s Safari USEK GEIT210 14  Specialized applications Specialized applications are special-purpose applications that are focused on specific disciplines and occupations. Examples include: 1. Graphics programs Graphics are widely used by professionals in the graphic arts. They use desktop publishing programs, image editing programs, and illustration programs.  Desktop publishing programs: Allow you to create high level publications of professional quality that mix text and graphics (brochures, newspapers, textbooks). Popular programs: Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Publisher, QuarkXPress. USEK GEIT210 15  Specialized applications  Image editors: also known as photo editors, are programs for editing or modifying digital photographs. They are used to touch up photographs to remove scratches or other imperfections. Photographs consist of thousands of dots or pixels (smallest element of a picture) that form images often referred as bitmap images (.BMP, JPEG, PNG and GIF). Popular image editors: Microsoft Paint and Adobe Photoshop.  Illustration Programs: also known as drawing programs: Used to create and edit vector images. It maintains an image in vector graphics format, which allows all elements of the picture to be isolated, moved and scaled independent of the others. Popular programs: Adobe Illustrator FreeHand, Microsoft visio, AutoCAD. USEK GEIT210 16  Specialized applications 2. Multimedia creation Derived from the word "Multi" and "Media": Multiple media tools that are integrated to represent things, a form of mass communication. Example: Video (live recording), Audio (voice and music), Animation and Text, Video games. We consider two types of multimedia: Multimedia without user interactivity: users have no control over the content that is being showed to them like a movie (Ex. Windows Movie Maker – video). Multimedia including user interactivity: users have control over the content that is being showed to them. Users are given navigational control such as interactive CD, Digital Encyclopedia (Encarta). USEK GEIT210 17  Specialized applications 3. Web authoring Creating a site is called web authoring, known as Web page editors or HTML editors. – Provide support for Web site design – Creates HTML coding A website is an interactive multimedia form of communication. Popular programs: – Macromedia Dreamweaver – NetObjects Fusion – iWeb – Freeway USEK GEIT210 18  Specialized applications 4. Artificial intelligence (AI) Artificial intelligence is a field of computer science. – Simulates human senses, thought processes, and actions – Includes reasoning, learning from past actions, and using senses such as vision and touch USEK GEIT210 19  Specialized applications Three areas of Artificial intelligence: Virtual reality (VR)  Virtual reality is an interactive, computer generated simulated environment with which users can interact with an animated 3-D environment in real time using data gloves and head mounted computer-graphic displays (audio, video).  Virtual reality environments are a common feature used in the aviation industry to train pilots USEK GEIT210 20  Specialized applications Knowledge-based (expert) systems  An expert system is software that uses a knowledge base of human experience for problem solving, or to clarify confusion where normally one or more human experts would need to be consulted.  Example: Medical diagnosis expert system USEK GEIT210 21  Specialized applications Robotics  Robots are machines controlled by "computers".  Robots are used in factories, home security, the military and many other fields.  Can be programmed to do more than one task.  Often used to handle dangerous, repetitive tasks.  Types of robots: – Industrial: perform tasks in factories, etc. – Mobile: can move about and perform tasks USEK GEIT210 22  System software System software is a collection of programs that handle technical details like, where a program is stored, how commands are converted to get processed, where a document or file is saved, how output is printed. USEK GEIT210 23  System software Types of programs: Bios (Basic Input Output System)  The BIOS software is built into the PC (ROM Memory) and is the first code run by a PC when powered on.  The BIOS software has a number of different roles, but its most important role is to load the operating system. When you turn on your computer and the microprocessor tries to execute its first instruction, it has to get that instruction from somewhere. It cannot get it from the operating system because the operating system is located on a hard disk, and the microprocessor cannot get to it without some instructions that tell it how. The BIOS provides those instructions. USEK GEIT210 24  System software  Some of the other common tasks that the BIOS performs is that when the computer is booted, the basic input/output system (BIOS) will perform a check on all of the internal components (like RAM, hard drive, CD-ROM, etc.) to make sure all are working correctly. This check is called a power-on self-test (POST).  The POST process runs at the beginning of the boot sequence before the operating system loads. If the POST process finishes without encountering any errors, your computer will boot up normally. USEK GEIT210 25  System software Utilities Utilities are specialized programs that make computing easier. Some of the most essential utilities include:  Troubleshooting programs: recognize and correct problems before they become serious.  Antivirus programs: guard your computer against viruses that can invade your computer system.  Uninstall programs: allow you to safely and completely remove un- needed programs and related files from your hard disk.  Backup programs: make copies of files in case the original are lost or damaged.  File compression programs: reduce the size of files so they can be stored and/or sent over a network. USEK GEIT210 26  System software  Disk Cleanup: identifies and removes unnecessary files such as temporary Internet files so freeing up valuable disk space and improves system performance. USEK GEIT210 27  System software Device drivers  Are special programs that allow devices such as a mouse or keyboard to communicate with the rest of the system.  Device driver works with the operating system to allow communications between the device and the rest of the computer system.  Drivers for new devices must be installed before a hardware device can be used.  Plug and Play (PnP) is a capability developed by Microsoft for its Windows 95 and later operating systems that gives users the ability to plug a device into a computer and have the computer recognize that the device is there. USEK GEIT210 28  System software Language translators  Language translators convert programming instructions written by programmers (high level language) into a language that computers understand and process. (Machine language 0-1).  For example, you may have a C++ compiler that translates the C++ source code into an executable file the computer can run. USEK GEIT210 29  System software Operating system  An operating system is a collection of programs that manage computer resources, provides a user interface, and runs applications.  An operating system is the most important type of computer program.  Examples:  Windows XP (2001): Stable, usable, and fast.  Windows Vista (2007): Smart on security.  Windows 7 (2009): Introduces Windows Touch.  Windows 8 (2012): features apps and tiles.  Windows 10 (2015): “the best Windows yet”.  Unix (Designed to run Macintosh Computers (APPLE)).  Linux (Linux is a version of UNIX created by Linus Torvalds in 1991). USEK GEIT210 30  Operating system Operating System main tasks:  Managing Resources: Computer resources include memory, processing, input and output devices (keyboard, mouse, printer, monitor… ).  Providing a User Interface: users interact with application programs and computer hardware through a user interface. Most operating systems today use a windows like Graphical User Interface (GUI) in which graphical objects (Menus, icons, pointer…).  Running Application: load and run applications such as word processors and spreadsheets.  Managing files and folders: The operating system creates a file structure on the hard disk drive to allow data to be stored. Files are used to store data and programs. Folders are used to organize files. USEK GEIT210 31  Operating system Operating systems categories:  Desktop Operating System: most used on personal computers.  Network Operating System: coordinate and manage computer networks (Windows NT, Windows Server family, NetWare, UNIX…).  Embedded Operating System: used on handheld devices (Pocket PC) (ex: Windows CE, PalmOS …). USEK GEIT210 32  Operating system Operating System characteristics:  Multiprogramming: It is the ability to load multiple programs in the main memory and to share the (one) Processor’s time among these multiple programs.  Multi-tasking: The computer is capable of operating multiple applications at the same time. (multiple applications, one user and one processor)  Multi-processing: The computer can have two or more central processing units that programs share.  Multi-user: multiple users can run programs on it at the same time. (multiple users, one operating system) USEK GEIT210 33