Software is actually a set of computer instructions and information which tell a machine how to operate. For instance, if you want to cook a pizza, you do not need to learn any special cooking techniques because the software that is on a laptop will allow you to simply place the ingredients on the oven and let the Pizza House creates the perfect pizza for you. On the other hand, physical hardware is completely different. This means that in order to use a printer, you need to know some printing basics or else you might mess it up completely. In other words, you can not just turn the hardware on and expect an excellent printing job. Physical hardware operates under various conditions and you need to be aware of these things in order to get a good result out of the hardware.
Basically, there are four main types of computer program, namely, application software, server software, desktop software and system software. Each type of program has its own specific purpose and thus it requires a different type of installation. Installation of the main types of software is also done in different ways. Here is a brief outline of the installation processes of the four main types of system software.
Application software is primarily used for business applications. It can be used to manage your business contacts, calendar and inventory as well as to communicate with other employees. The best thing about application software is that it lets you save a lot of time compared to using the traditional methods of bookkeeping and inventory management. Therefore, this is the most popularly used system software. On the other hand, the operating system software is installed on the computer system to make sure that everything runs smoothly.
Computer system software consists of a large number of smaller applications, known as components, which are all executed inside a single main body called the kernel. All the major types of computer software types come with their respective kernels and users just need to choose the one that they want to use. The two major software types of Windows and Mac OS X are based on the Unix operating system.
Both the utility software and the source software are installed together along with an operating system and a variety of additional features. The utility software helps the end-user in performing a wide range of small tasks such as backing up the data, scanning documents and deleting junk files, while the source software helps in creating applications, writing code, packaging applications and managing networks. Both the source software and utility software are available for free; however, many companies offer paid versions of their proprietary software products.
The computer system software and the programming languages differ in terms of complexity. The computer system software is much less complicated compared to programming languages like C or Java, which require a high level of computer programming languages and various libraries. Therefore, C and Java programs that run on a typical personal computer are quite easy to follow. On the other hand, programming languages such as C require the use of a large number of complex functions and data structures that are difficult to understand for end-users.