In this chapter you will learn about:

★ types of software and interrupts

★ types of programming language, translators and IDEs

In this chapter you will learn about:

★ types of software and interrupts
– the differences between systems software and
applications software
(including the operating system, utility programs and
application software)
– the role and basic functions of an operating system
– the need for hardware, firmware and operating systems
when running
application software
– role and operation of interrupts
★ types of programming language, translators and IDEs
– advantages and disadvantages of high-level and low-level
languages
– assembly language is a low-level language that uses
mnemonics and
assemblers
– the operation of compilers and interpreters for high-level
languages

1
– advantages and disadvantages of compilers and
interpreters
– the role and functions of integrated development
environment (IDEs) when
writing code.

2
Software
4.1 Types of software and interrupts
4.1.1 System software and application software
Computer needs software to work.
Without software, the hardware items would be useless.

There are two types of software:

1- system software
2- application software

3
 Types of software

General features of system software

1) Control - manage the computer hardware.
2) Provides a platform to run software.
3) Allow hardware and software to run without problems.
4) Provides a human interface (HI).
5) Controls the allocation (storing) and using of hardware
resources.

General features of application software

1) Perform different applications on a computer
2) Perform specific tasks
3) Can be a single program (for example, Notepad) or a
suite of programs (for example, Microsoft Office)
4) user can execute the software when they require.

4
 APPLICATION SOFTWARE:
These are programs that allow the user to do specific tasks.
Application software Examples:
1) Word processor
2) Spreadsheet
3) Database
4) Control and measuring software
5) Apps
6) Photo editing software
7) Video editing software
8) Graphics manipulation software

WORD PROCESSOR
Used to manipulate a text document which entered by a keyboard.
Word processing Functions:
• Creating, editing, saving and manipulating text
• Copy and paste
• Spell checkers
• Import photos/images
• Translation into a foreign language

SPREADSHEET:
Used to organize and manipulate numerical data.
Spreadsheets Functions:
• Using formulas for calculations
• Produces graphs
• Using Modelling and “what if” calculations.

5
DATABASE:
Used to organise, manipulate and analyse data. A database is
made up of one or more tables.
Database Functions include:
• Add, delete and modify data in a table.
• Carry out queries on database data.
• Produces reports.
CONTROL AND MEASURING SOFTWARE:
Are designed to allow a computer or microprocessor to interface
with sensors.
They can:
• Measure physical quantities (like: temperatures)
• Control applications (like: chemical process) by comparing
sensor data with stored data and sending out signals.

APPS:
Apps is short for applications – a type of software that downloaded
from an “App Store” and runs on mobile phones or tablets.
Common examples of apps include:
• Video and music streaming
• GPS (global positioning systems)
• Camera facility

PHOTO EDITING SOFTWARE:

Used to manipulate digital photographs stored on a computer. They
allow a photographer to remove unwanted items and make it as
perfect as possible.

VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE:

6
Used to manipulate videos.
Essentially it includes:
• Rearranging videos
• Adding - removing sections of video and/or audio clips
• Applying colour correction (enhancements)
• Creating transitions between clips in the video footage

GRAPHICS MANIPULATION SOFTWARE:

Used to change bitmap and vector images.
Bitmap images are made up of pixels (pixels contain information
about image brightness and colour).
Bitmap graphics editors can change the pixels to produce a
different image.
Vector graphic editors operate in a different way and don’t use
pixels.

7
SYSTEM SOFTWARE:
Used to:
1- Allow hardware to run properly
2- Allow user to communicate with the computer

Examples of typical system software:

1) Compilers
2) Linkers
3) Device drivers
4) Operating systems (O/S)
5) Utilities
6) Utility software (Utilities)

1- COMPILERS:
A compiler is a computer program used to translate a program
(source code) written in a high-level language (HLL) into machine
code (object code - code which is understood by the computer) to
perform a required task.
Examples of high-level languages include: Java, Python, Visual
Basic, Fortran, C++ and Algol.

2- LINKERS:
A linker (or link editor) is a computer program that takes one or
more object file produced by a compiler and combines them into a
single program which can be run on a computer.

3- DEVICE DRIVERS:

8
A device driver is a software that makes hardware devices to
communicate with the computer's operating system.
Without drivers, a hardware device can’t work with the computer.
All hardware devices connected to a computer have associated
drivers.
Also, when a device is plugged into the USB port of a computer,
the operating system looks for the appropriate driver. An error
message will be produced if it can’t be found.

Examples of drivers:
printers, memory sticks, mouse, CD drivers, and so on.

4- OPERATING SYSTEMS (O/S):

The operating system (OS) is a software that running in the

background of a computer system.
It manages many of the basic functions.
Without the OS, it’s impossible to work with computers.

Operating systems allow (as example):

1. Input/output operations.
2. Users to communicate with the computer (e.g. Windows).
3. Error handling.
4. The loading and running of programs.
5. Managing of security (e.g. user accounts, log on passwords).

9
5- UTILITIES:

Utility programs are software that used to do specific tasks on a

computer.

They are used to help to manage, maintain and control computer

resources.
Examples of Utility programs include:
• Anti-virus (virus checkers)
• Anti-spyware
• Back-up of files
• Disk repair and analysis
• File management and compression
• Security
• Screensavers
• Disk defragmenter/ Defragmentation software

6- Utility software (utilities)

Are programs that are part of the system software.

Utility programs are often initiated and work:

1- by the user
2- or run in the background without the need for any user input.

Utility programs examples:

10
 1. Virus checkers
2. Defragmentation software
3. Disk contents analysis and repair
4. File compression and file management
5. Back-up software
6. Security
7. Screensavers.

Virus checkers (anti-virus software)

Any computer (including mobile phones and tablets) can be

attacked by a virus.
A virus is a program that used to destroy your computer.
Some operating systems offer virus checkers, which kept up to
date and run in the background to guard against being infected by
malware.

Some ways to prevent viruses:

1- being careful of downloading materials from the internet.
2- Avoid opening files or websites from unknown senders.
3- Avoid using non-original software.

11
Anti-virus software always Running in the background on a
computer to check for virus attacks.

Anti-virus software common features:

1) They check software or files before they are run or loaded on a

computer.
2) Anti-virus software checking a possible virus in its database of
known viruses.

3) Making a heuristic checking (checking behaviour of software

that indicates as a possible virus).

4) Infected files or programs are put into quarantine which:

– Deleted the virus automatically.
– allows the user to make the decision about deletion.

Drawbacks of anti-virus software:

The false positive:

When the anti-virus flagged a file or program as a virus but the user
knows that the file or program is not infected by a virus

5) Needs to be up to date (to discover new viruses).

6) Make full system checks from time to time.

12
Defragmentation software

When a HDD becomes full, blocks used for files will become
scattered all over the disk surface (in different sectors and tracks).
This will happen because files will become deleted, partially-
deleted, extended and so on over time.

This causes slower data access at a time.

The HDD read-write head now requires several movements just to
find and retrieve the data file.

It will be an advantage:

if files could be stored in contiguous sectors, then it reduces HDD

head movements.

(Note that, this is not a problem when using solid state devices.).

Example:

13
Consider the following scenario using a disk with 12 (numbered 0
to 11) sectors per surface:

1) Step 1:
We have three files (file1, file2 and file3) stored on track 8 of a disk
surface covering all 12 sectors:

2) Step 2:

Now file 2 is deleted by the user and file 1 has data added to it;
however, the file 2 sectors which become vacant are not filled up
straight away by new file 1 data since this would require ‘too much

14
effort’ for the HDD resources; we now get the following (file 1 is
now stored in sectors 0, 1, 2, 3, 10 and 11):

File 1 has now been extended to write data is sectors 10 and 11;
now suppose.

file 3 is extended with the equivalent of 3 blocks of data; this now

requires filling up sector 9 and then finding some empty sectors to
write the remainder of the data – suppose the next free sectors are
on track 11:

If this continues, the files just become more and more scattered
throughout the disk surfaces. It is possible for sectors 4, 5 and 6
(on track 8) to eventually become used if the disk starts to fill up
and it has to use up whatever space is available.

15
A disk defragmenter will rearrange the blocks of data to store files
in contiguous sectors wherever possible. After defragmentation
Track 8 would now become:

This obviously allows for much faster data access and retrieval
since the HDD will now require fewer read-write head movements
to access and read files 1 and 3.

Track 11 would be empty after the defragmentation process.

16
Back-up software
We can take a data backup by:
1- Manual back-ups (using: memory stick - portable HDD).
2- Use the operating system back-up utility.

This utility will:

• Allow a schedule for backing up files.
• Only make a back-up if there are any changes made to a file.

For total security there are three versions (types) of a file:

1) The current (working) file:

Stored on the internal HDD or SSD.
2) A locally backed up copy of the file:
Stored on a portable SSD
3) A remote back-up copy:
Stored well away from the computer remotely (using cloud
storage).

Microsoft Windows provides the following facilities (using the back-

up utility):
1) Restore data, files (used to recover files when a problem
happened or files are lost).
2) Create a restore point (this is basically a kind of ‘time machine’
where your computer can be restored to its state at this earlier
point in time; this can be very useful if a very important file has
been deleted and can’t be recovered by any of the other utilities)

17
3) Options of where to save back-up files; this can be set up from
the utility to ensure files are automatically backed up to a chosen
device.

Windows uses File History, which takes snapshots of files and

stores them on an external HDD at regular intervals. Over a period
of time, File History builds up a vast library of past versions of files
– this allows a user to choose which version of the file they want to
use. File History defaults to backing up every hour and retains
past versions of files for ever unless the user changes the settings.
Mac OS offers the Time Machine back-up utility. This erases the
contents of a selected drive and replaces them with the contents
from the back-up. To use this facility, it is necessary to have an
external HDD or SSD (connected via USB port) and ensure that
the Time Machine utility is installed and activated on the selected
computer. Time machine will automatically:
» back-up every hour
» do daily back-ups for the past month, and
» weekly back-ups for all the previous months.
(Note: once the back-up HDD or SSD is almost full, the oldest back-
ups are deleted and replaced with the newest back-up data.) The
following screen shows the Time Machine message:

18
Security software

Security software is a utility that:

1. Manages access control and user accounts (by using user IDs
and passwords).
2. Links into other utility software (like: virus checkers).
3. Protects network interfaces (like: use of firewalls).
4. Uses encryption and decryption for protection.
5. Controlling the updating of software.

Screensavers

Screensavers are programs that displays moving and still images

on the monitor screen after a period of no using the computer.

19
 Screensavers are used for:
1) Protect older CRT (cathode ray tube).
2) A way of customising a device.
3) Part of the computer’s security system.
4) To activate useful background tasks in computer.

1- Protect older CRT (cathode ray tube):

To protect older CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors by avoiding
(phosphor burn) – and that’s happen when the same screen image
remained for a length of time.
This problem is solved with modern LCD and OLED screens.

2- A way of customising a device:

Not to be used by other users.

3- Part of the computer’s security system:

If a computer is unused for a time, and hasn’t been logged out, this
will load the screensaver.

Then, the computer user will be automatically logged out and a

screensaver will indicate that the computer is now locked.

This gives an extra security for computers used in public.

20
4- To activate useful background tasks in computer:

To let some tasks that can only run when the computer is in an
(idle) to run at the background.
For example:
• Virus scans
• Distributed computing applications (use the computer’s
resources only when it is idle (like: an online gaming app)).

Device drivers

Device drivers are software that communicate with the operating

system and translate data to be understood by a hardware
peripheral device.
Without device drivers, a hardware device can’t work properly.
When a device is plugged into a USB port, the operating system
looks for the appropriate device driver.

All USB device drivers contain a collection of information about

devices called descriptors.
(Descriptors are a collection of information about USB devices).

21
Descriptors include:
1- Vendor id (VID).
2- Product id (PID).
3- Unique serial numbers.

If a device has no serial number, the operating system will treat the
device as new every time it is plugged into a USB port.
Serial numbers must be unique for devices.

Operating systems

To enable computer systems to:

1- Function correctly
2- Allow users to communicate with computer systems.

An operating system provides both:

1- Environment in which applications can be run.
2- Useable interface between humans and computer.

An operating system also hides the complexity of computer

software and hardware.

Computers store the operating system on a hard disk drive (HDD)

or solid-state drive (SSD) because they are very large programs.

Mobile phones and tablets store the operating system on a solid-

state device because they are too small.

Some functions of the operating system:

1) Human computer interface (HCI)

22
 2) Multitasking
3) Platform for running of application software
4) Management of user accounts
5) Managing files
6) Hardware peripheral management (including drivers)
7) Memory Management
8) Interrupt handling routines
9) Security (manages log on, passwords)

Examples of operating systems:

1- Microsoft Windows
2- Apple Mac OS
3- Google Android
4- Apple IOS (latter used on tablets and smartphones).

23