Computer System

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Recommended: Introduction to Computer Applications

Introduction
In as much as the computer is a vital device to its users, a lack of software would make it become an ordinary artistic invention. According to Goel (2010), the computer cannot perform any task on its own. This means that for a user to be able to conduct their tasks with the computer hardware, the software must be available in order to ensure that the users’ command are executed by the hardware (Goel, 2010, pg. 115). Thus, one can therefore deduce that the computer software acts as a go-between (interface) between the user and the computer hardware. Therefore, the computer software is in fact as equally important as the rest of the components of the computer system.
However, the computer software is intangible, i.e. it cannot be physically touched. This is because software is a program (Goel, 2010, pg. 115). A program is a step by step procedure that instructs a computer on what to do and when to do it (as cited from Dixit’s work, 2005, pg. 64, and Meakin, 1998). Software can be divided into two broad categories: system software and application software.
System software
According to Puntambekar & Dhotre (2008), system software consists of a variety of programs that support the operation of a computer. It allows us to interact with the applications without getting to know the background details of what is happening with the machine.
The system software provides basic functionality to the computer, controls the computer hardware and act as an interface between the user, application software and computer hardware. (Goel, 2010, pg.116). For this reason, most system software is strongly machine-dependent (Puntambekar & Dhotre, 2008, pg. 2).
Goel (2010) categorises the system software into two according to its functionali...

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...aedia Britannica online. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/242033/graphical-user-interface-GUI
Sisodiya S. (n.d). Difference between Compiler and Interpreter. Message posted to http://www.engineersgarage.com/contribution/difference-between-compiler-and-interpreter
Jones W.D. (n.d). Object Codes, Loaders and Linkers. (Chapter 7). Retrieved from lecture notes online website: http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/syssoft/fall00/notes/07link.html
Menu Interface (n.d). Retrieved February 3, 2014 from http://www.teach-ict.com/as_a2_ict_new/ocr/AS_G061/312_software_hardware/user_interfaces/miniweb/pg4.htm
Application Software (n.d). Retrieved February 3, 2014 from http://www.teach-ict.com/gcse_computing/ocr/211_hardware_software/types_sw/miniweb/pg7.htm
Fisher T. (n.d). Driver. Message posted to http://pcsupport.about.com/od/termsag/g/term_driver.htm

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