What is a Software?: Software is a collection of instructions, data, or computer programs that are used to run machines and carry out particular activities. In this world of technology, we even come across various development trends that help our business to grow. In this article, let us explore these types of software with examples and the difference between both types. It is the antithesis of hardware, which refers to a computer’s external component.

What is a Software?

In a computer system, it is a set of instructions or commands that tell a computer what to do. In other words, it is a computer program that provides a set of instructions to execute a user’s commands and tell the computer what to do. For example, MS Word, MS Excel, and WordinMS Excel are its types. But do you know these software programs fall under different categories? Now, you might be thinking how many types of are there? Primarily, there are two types of systems and applications. The chart below describes the types.

Types of Software

 Now we will briefly describe each type and its subtypes:

1. System Software
   • Operating System
   • Language Processor
   • Device Driver
2. Application Software
   • General Purpose
   • Customize
   • Utility

Systems

It is that directly operates the computer hardware and provides the basic functionality to the users as well as to the other software to operate smoothly. In other words, it controls a computer’s internal functioning and also controls hardware devices such as monitors, printers, storage devices, etc. It is like an interface between hardware and user applications, it helps them to communicate with each other because hardware understands machine language(i.e. 1 or 0) whereas user applications work in human-readable languages like English, Hindi, German, etc. so it converts the human-readable language into machine language and vice versa.

Types of System Software
It has two subtypes which are:

1. Operating System: It is the main program of a computer system. When the computer system is ON it is the first software that loads into the computer’s memory. It manages all the resources such as computer memory, CPU, printer, hard disk, etc., and provides an interface to the user, which helps the user to interact with the computer system. It also provides various services to other computers. Examples of operating systems are Linux, Apple macOS, Microsoft Windows, etc.
2. Language Processor: As we know system software converts the human-readable language into a machine language and vice versa.  It converts programs written in high-level programming languages like Java, C, C++, Python, etc(known as source code), into sets of instructions that are easily readable by machines(known as object code or machine code).
3. Device Driver: A device driver is a program that controls a device and helps that device to perform its functions. Every device like a printer, mouse, modem, etc. needs a driver to connect with the computer system eternally. So, when you connect a new device with your computer system, first you need to install the driver of that device so that your operating system knows how to control or manage that device.

Features 
Let us discuss some of the features

• ita a low-level language in general.
• it is difficult to design and understand.
• itis fast in speed(working speed).
• It is less interactive for the users in comparison to the application.

Application Software

Software that performs special functions or provides functions that are much more than the basic operation of the computer is known as application software. It includes word processors, spreadsheets, database management, inventory, payroll programs, etc.

Types of Application Software
There are different types of application software and those are:

1. General Purpose: This type of application is used for a variety of tasks and it is not limited to performing a specific task only. For example, MS Word, MS Excel, PoMS Word, and MS Excel. For example, railway reservation system, airline reservation system, invoice management system, etc.
2. Utility: This type of application software is used to support the computer infrastructure. It is designed to analyze, configure, optimize, and maintain the system, and take care of its requirements as well. For example, antivirus, disk, memory tester, disk repair, disk cleaners, registry cleaners, disk space analyzers, etc.

Features 
Let us discuss some of the features

• An important feature of application software is it performs more specialized tasks like word processing, spreadsheets, email, etc.
• Mostly, the size of the it is big, so it requires more storage space.
• it is more interactive for the users, so it is easy to use and design.
• it is easy to design and understand.

Difference Between System and Application Software

Now, let us discuss some differences between them.

System SW

• Written in a low-level language.
• Less interactive for the users.
• it plays a vital role in the effective functioning of a system.
• It is independent of the application software to run.

Application SW

• Written in a high-level language.
• More interactive for the users.
• Application software is not so important for the functioning of the system, as it is task-specific.
• It needs system software to run.