Before starting this article, I want to ask you something. Do you think you can spend a day without using any technology? Can you imagine your life without the modern world technologies? Don’t worry. I know the answer. And that is easy. It is hard to think of a day without using any tech. And all of these technologies use a core system to operate. Without this system software, a machine can not work. There are different types of system software. And other types of system software do different kinds of work. In this article, we are going to talk about all that. So if you are interested, then stay tuned and learn all about system software.
Table of Contents
What does system software mean?
Before we know about different types of system software. Firstly we need to understand what does it mean? What is the importance of system software? How does it work? And here, we are going to talk about all that.
From the name, you might have assumed what a system software can be. And your assumption is right. The system software is indeed a software. But this is a special kind of software. The system software is designed to provide other software with a platform. In short, the system software creates a suitable environment for additional software. Hence, the user of that technology can enjoy other software as well. Different types of operating systems are examples of system software. For instance, windows, Mac OS, Linux, etc. are system software. This system software gives other software an easy platform.
Why do we need a system software?
To operate a machine, you need a core system. And this system defines how a device will work. So, without system software, we can not expect machines to work in order.
So, now if we talk about the operating systems. Then you will quickly understand why we need system software. System software allows users to use other software easily. For example, text readers, video players, music players, video games, and much more software. Hence you can create text documents, browse the web, play video games, watch a movie on your computer.
In the past, people had to create software on their own. Because they did not have system software. So, to do even the simplest work on your computer. You needed to write a program. So, you can see how system software changed our experiences with a machine. We are using a device more easily. And the reason behind this is system software.
Windows is one of the most famous operating systems. Hence, it is an example of system software. And millions of people use this system software. And using windows, you can easily understand how windows help us. We can use different kinds of software. For example, Microsoft Office, video players, video games, and many more applications.
System software and our daily life.
Let’s see an example of how system software changed our experiences with machines. Say, you want to watch a movie on your computer. You need to open your computer. And it runs with windows 10. And yes, windows 10 is system software. Then you need to search your video file. So you need a file explorer. And yes, again, this file explorer is also a system software. After you find your desired video, You just click the video. And the video will start playing. And this is the example of system software giving video player order to play the video. Let’s open a zip file on your computer. So, if you want to unzip a zipped file. You need special software like RAR opener. And this is also an example of system software giving the order to the RAR opener.
You are a programmer. And now you want to write a program so you will write it in IDE. And IDE is also an example of system software.
The system software is the only way to connect your software and hardware. So if you want to do that, you need the system software. And only then you will get the desired result.
A brief history of System Software
If we look back to the history of system software. Then we will see that system software was first used for computers. Claude Shanon was a famous mathematician. He released a manuscript named “A mathematical theory of communication.” In this book, he proposed a different kind of theory. And now, we all are familiar with his idea. In fact, his theory is real now. He planned an outline for binary logic working on computers. But the problem was, binary logic is too hard to understand. And man could not comprehend this binary logic.
Tom Kilburn wrote the program that successfully ran on a computer. And the name of the computer was the “Manchester baby computer.” And the program was designed to calculate the highest factor of the integer. And we can call it the birth of software. That was the first system software. In the mid-20th-century scientists and programmers developed many kinds of programming languages. For example, Fortran, c, c++, c#, python, java, javascript, and many more. And that opened the doors of creating system software for computers.
Well, FORTRAN, and COBOL. These are also examples of system software. And this system software was only used for numerical calculations. But when did we got the first modern system software? So, the answer is during the Apollo mission. NASA launched its Apollo mission on the moon. But the mission could be possible with the then available system software. Hence NASA needed modern system software. Margaret Hamilton, an American mathematician and programmer, programmed, wrote that program. Then it was named “basic.” With some magnetic cores and wire connections, the program was successfully optimized. And this was the first modern system software.
System software and application software.
We often misunderstood the theory of system software and application software. There is a distinct difference between application software and system software. And now we are going to talk about that.
The main difference between these two is that one of them is used to operate the machine’s hardware. And another one is used for a particular task. For example, the Mac OS is used for controlling your iMac. But a video player is used for playing a video. Hence Mac OS is system software. But the video player is application software.
The system software is pre-installed software in a device. But the application software is installed as the users will. Hence, the system software runs in the background. But application software interacts with the user.
System software orders the application software to do a task. Hence, you can see the difference between system software and application software.
Uses of Different Types of system software
If you see deeply, you will see examples of the system software in different sectors. For instance, in our daily life, corporate sector, entertainment sector, etc. You will see the uses of different types of the system software in the following topics.
In our Daily Life
The system software is the bridge between hardware and software. Even an alarm clock has a system software. Hence, when you wake up and watch a digital watch. You are looking at a system software. The system software co-operates with the hardware. As a result, we see the time on the digital clock.
We use google assistants on our phones. And this is also a system software. We change the channel on tv with a remote. And tv also has system software. As a result, we can change the channel as our will.
In our Corporate sector
In the corporate sector, we can not think of doing anything without computers. And we have already talked about this. Computers can not run without system software. And we use the computer in our corporate sector to do our job. And to complete a task we need both system software and application software.
You need different office programs. For example, MS word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, and many more applications. System software creates a suitable environment for those applications to run smoothly.
Education sector
Well, we need computers and smart devices in today’s world to study properly. But we have already talked about how mobile phones and computer uses system software. Hence we are not talking about that anymore.
But except for those, there are many kinds of uses of different types of system software in this sector. For example, the Xerox machine. Xerox machine is one of the most used machines in the education sector. And the Xerox machine has a system software to work properly. Even a printer has a system software. Then let’s talk about the OMR machine. This machine is also used in the education sector. And it can not work without system software.
Entertainment and gaming
To watch a movie we go to the cinema hall. They use a projector. And the projector has built-in system software. Hence we can watch a movie.
Even when a movie is being made. They use the camera to film the movie. Cameras have built-in system software. And if we think about it then we will find more examples of different types of system software.
Even when we play games, we have to think of system software. Because if we did not have the system software then the game would have not run.
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
First Question What is system software?
Answer: System software is software. And these types of system software allow other software to run smoothly. In short, the system software creates an environment. And in that environment, other software can run effortlessly.
Second question: What does the system software do?
Answer: System software is the bridge between software and hardware. Hence to control hardware by software you need will need it. Without system software, you can not install other software on your device.
Third Question: How many types of system software are there?
Answer: There many types of system software. And different device uses different types of system software. For example, a smartwatch use one kind of system software. And a smartphone uses another kind of system software. On the other hand, a computer uses the third type of system software. All of them are different from each other. Hence, there are tons of types of system software available. And you can see them in every sector.
Fourth Question: Are system software and application software the same thing?
Answer: The answer is no. The system software and application software are two different things. System software controls the hardware. In other words, system software gives commands to the hardware. But an application software is used for a particular task. For example, a music player can only play music. It can not command the hardware. And the system software commands the music player to play music.
Conclusion
The system software is the most important software for a device. Because without a system software a device can not exist in today’s world. This is a world of competition. And you can not survive in this world if you are not advanced. The same goes for the devices. In today’s world devices have to be easier to use. And if a device is not effortless to use. Then people will not use the device. And they will find another better device. Hence, if you are a businessman. And you want your device to rule the market. Then you must have a top-notch system software. So that it can be used easily. There are different types of system software available in today’s world. Without system software, we can not think of using devices so easily. In conclusion, system software changed the world dramatically. And we can see that every day.
