Software - IGCSE

Computer Software

• Types of software and interrupts

• types of programming language, translators and IDEs

What are we going to Learn

Introduction

All computers begin life as a group of connected hardware items. Without software, the hardware items would be useless. This section considers the link between hardware and software.
Hardware are the physical parts of a computer.
Software Set of instructions that tells a hardware what to do.

Software that allows the user to perform a specific task.
Examples of application software are like Spreadsheet, Word Processors, Databases, Internet browsers and Gaming software

​Application Software

A type of software that manages the hardware and software in a computer
System software is made up of Operating system, Utility programs and Device drivers.

​System Software

Types of Software

• Used to perform specific task in a computer

• May be a single program example: Microsoft Office

• User can execute the software when they want

Application Software

• controls and manages computer hardware

• provide platforms for other software to run

• Provide a human Computer interface

• controls allocation and usage of hardware resources

System Software

General features of

Activity:
To be done in Pairs /Group of Three

Discuss the Following questions

1. What is a utility program and give examples.

2. What is a compiler?

3. What is a device driver? Give some examples.

4. what is an Operating system? Give any three examples of an operating system.

5. What is an antivirus? Give three examples.

Multiple Choice

What is the primary purpose of application software?

• To control the computer hardware
• To provide entertainment
• To perform specific tasks for users
• To protect the computer from viruses

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is an example of application software?

• Operating System
• Microsoft Word
• Motherboard
• CPU

Multiple Choice

What type of software is Microsoft Excel?

• Firmware

• Application software

• Utility software

• System software

Multiple Choice

What type of software ensures the security and integrity of a computer system by protecting against viruses and malware?

• Operating system

• Device driver

• Antivirus software

• Spreadsheet software

Multiple Choice

Which type of application software is designed for learning and reference purposes?

• Communication software

• Gaming software

• Education and reference software

• Financial software

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is an example of system software?

• Microsoft Word

• Adobe Photoshop

• Windows Operating System

• Google Chrome

Multiple Choice

System software is responsible for:

• Word processing and spreadsheet calculations

• Managing computer resources and hardware

• Creating presentations and graphics

• Playing multimedia files

Multiple Choice

When you start your computer, which type of software is loaded first?

• Application software

• Utility software

• System software

• Device drivers

Multiple Choice

What type of software is used to perform tasks like word processing, email, and web browsing?

• System software

• Utility software

• Application software

• Firmware

Multiple Choice

Which type of software is responsible for ensuring that peripheral devices like printers and scanners work correctly with the computer?

• System software

• Utility software

• Application software

• Firmware

Multiple Select

Select any two types of operating system

• CLI

• Windows

• GUI

• Android

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is not an example of operating system

• Windows

• Ubuntu

• Linux

• Ms Word

Multiple Choice

What type of interface primarily relies on text-based commands for interacting with the computer?

• Graphical User Interface (GUI)

• Command Line Interface (CLI)

• Both a and b

• None of them

Multiple Choice

Which CLI command is used to create a new directory?

• makefile

• mkdir

• newdir

• createfolder

Multiple Choice

What type of interface uses icons, windows, and menus to interact with the computer?

• Command Line Interface (CLI)

• Graphical User Interface (GUI)

• Text-based Interface (TBI)

• Coding Interface (CI)

• Virus checkers

• Defragmentation software

• disk contents analysis and repair

• file compression and file management

• back-up software

• security and Screensavers.

Examples

This is a type of software designed to perform specific tasks that enhance the management and optimization of a computer system. These tasks typically focus on improving system performance, security, and overall functionality

Utility Software (Utilities)

• Explain what is meant by a computer virus.

• How do computers get a virus? Explain the methods you can use to protect your computer from virus.

• What is a backup software? Explain how it is useful.

• What are screensavers?

• What is a device drivers? Explain why this is important.

Group Work

Operating systems

An operating system provides both the environment in which

applications can be run and a useable interface between humans and computer.
Common examples of operating system includes Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS, Google Android and Apple IOS.
Most computers store the operating system on a hard disk drive (HDD) or solid state drive (SSD) since they tend to be very large programs. Mobile phones and tablets store the operating system on a solid state device since they are too small to accommodate an HDD.

Functions of an Operating Systems

1. Human computer interface (HCI): The human computer interface (HCI) is in the form of a Command Line Interface (CLI) or a Graphical User Interface (GUI). A CLI requires a user to type in instructions in order to choose options from menus, open software, etc. A GUI allows the user to interact with a computer using pictures or symbols (icons) rather than having to type in a number of commands.

Cont..

2. Memory Management: Operating system manages both Primary and Secondary Memory, keeps track of all the memory locations and ensures that two competing applications can not use the same memory.

3. Security management: The function of security management is to ensure the integrity, confidentiality and availability of data.

4. Hardware peripheral management: Hardware management involves all input and output peripheral devices. OS manages input/output devices by controlling queues and buffers

Cont..

4. File management: file naming conventions, performing specific tasks (for example, create, open, close, delete, rename, copy, and move, maintaining the directory structures, ensuring access control mechanisms are maintained, ensuring memory allocation for a file by reading it from the HDD/SSD and loading it into memory.

5. Multitasking: Multitasking allows computers to carry out more than one task (i.e. a process) at a time.

6. Management of user accounts: Computers can have more than one account

Running of applications

Explain the relationship between application software, operating system, Firmware and Bootstrap


You can use your course book page number 81 for more information.

Homework

1. Which utility programs are being described below?

   1. Software that runs in the background and checks for malware; suspect programs are quarantined and deleted if necessary

   2. Software that rearranges data on a hard disk drive (HDD) to reduce the scattering of the data stored on the HDD

   3. Software that manages access control and user accounts and also

      protects network interfaces

   4. Program that supplies static or moving images on a monitor when the computer has been idle for a period of time

Running Applications

• Copy the diagram for software on a computer from your course book page number 81.

• Explain the meaning of firmware and bootsrap

Interrupts

• Explain what is an interrupt and give examples of interrupts.

• Explain how computer handles interrupts

Classify the following as system software or application software

Multiple Choice

Screensavers

• Application Software

• System software

Multiple Choice

anti-virus software

• Application software

• System software

Multiple Choice

printer driver

• System Software

• Application software

Multiple Choice

video editing software

• System Software

• Application software

Multiple Choice

compiler

• System Software

• Application software

Multiple Choice

QR code reader

• System Software

• Application software

Multiple Choice

on-screen calculator

• System Software

• Application software

Multiple Choice

operating system software

• System Software

• Application software

Multiple Choice

control and measurement software

• System Software

• Application software

Multiple Choice

Google Chrome

• System Software

• Application software

Types of Programming Languages

Introduction

A computer program is a list of instructions that enable a computer to perform a specific task.
Programs are our way of telling a computer what to do, how to do it and when to do it.
Computer programs can be written in high-level languages and

low-level languages depending on the task to be performed and the computer to be used. Most programmers write programs in high-level languages.

High-Level Language

A high-level language uses huma-language style words.
Examples of high level languages are like python, Java, Visual Basic, C++, C#, JavaScript, Ruby, Go, Swift, PHP etc.

A program written in high level language is considered as portable meaning that it can be run in another computer.

Low Level Language

Low-level languages relate to the specific architecture and hardware of a

particular type of computer.
Two types of Low-level languages are machine code and assembly language.
Machine code: Binary instructions that a computer understands.
Assembly languages: A code that is written in mnemonics that allow direct manipulation of the hardware. This needs to be converted into binary code to run.

Choosing programming Language

1. High level language is easier to be understood by humans WHILE High level language is hard to be understood by the human.

2. It is easier to find errors in high level over low level.

3. High level is portable and machine independent WHILE Low level is not portable and machine dependent

4. High level language must be converted into a low level language WHILE Low level language does not need conversion.

5. High level can not directly manipulate the hardware WHILE Low level can directly manipulate the hardware.
   
   

Multiple Choice

Which type of language is closer to human-readable text and is easier for programmers to understand?

• High-level language

• Low-level language

Multiple Choice

Machine code is an example of a:

• High-level language

• Low-level language

Multiple Choice

Assembly language is considered a:

• High-level language

• Low-level language

Multiple Choice

In machine code, instructions are represented as:

• Binary numbers

• English words

Multiple Choice

Assembly language uses __________ to represent instructions and data.

• English-like mnemonics

• Complex mathematical symbols

Multiple Choice

Which type of language is platform-independent and can run on different computer architectures without modification?

• High-level language

• Low-level language

Multiple Choice

Which of the following languages is closer to the hardware and provides fine-grained control over computer resources?

• High-level language

• Low-level language

Multiple Choice

In which language do programmers write code that is more abstract and less concerned with specific hardware details?

• High-level language

• Low-level language

Multiple Choice

Which type of language typically requires a compiler or interpreter to translate code into machine code?

• High-level language

• Low-level language

Multiple Choice

What is the primary function of a compiler?

• Translate source code into machine code
• Optimize code execution
• Execute machine code
• Debug code errors

Multiple Choice

Which of the following best describes an interpreter?

• An interpreter is a program that converts high-level programming language code into low-level machine code.
• An interpreter is a program that directly executes instructions written in a programming language without the need for compilation.
• An interpreter is a program that translates instructions written in a programming language into machine code.
• An interpreter is a program that checks the syntax of a programming language and reports any errors.

Multiple Choice

What is the purpose of an assembler?

• Convert assembly language code into machine code
• Optimize assembly language code
• Translate machine code into assembly language
• Execute machine code instructions

Multiple Choice

Which of the following statements is true about interpreters?

• Interpreters are programs that convert high-level programming language code into machine code.
• Interpreters are faster than compilers in executing code.
• Interpreters are programs that directly execute instructions written in a high-level programming language without the need for compilation.
• Interpreters are only used for debugging purposes.

Translators

• Programs are written by humans in a form that people who are trained as computer programmers can understand. In order to be used by a computer, programs need to be translated into the binary instructions, machine code, that the computer understands.

• A program must be translated into binary before a computer can use it; this is done by a utility program called a translator.

• There are several types of translator program in use; each one performs a different task.

Translators

• Compilers: A compiler is a computer program that translates an entire program written in a highlevel language (HLL) into machine code.

• Interpreters: Is a translator that converts high level language into low level language. It checks one line of code and then it executes it before checking the next.

• Assemblers: An assembler is a computer program that translates a program written in an assembly language into machine code so that it can be directly used by a computer to perform a required task.

Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

• An Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is used by programmers to aid the writing and development of programs.

• There are many different IDEs available; some just support one programming language, others can be used for several different programming languages. Examples includes: PyCharm (for Python), Visual Studio (for Visual Basic) or BlueJ (for Java).

• IDE has the following features: Auto-completion, auto-correction, and prettyprint

Multiple Choice

An assembler translates a high-level language program.

• TRUE

• FALSE

Multiple Choice

It is more difficult to write a program in a low-level language.

• FALSE

• TRUE

Multiple Choice

Java is an assembly language.

• FALSE

• TRUE

Multiple Choice

It is quicker to develop a program using a high-level language.

• FALSE

• TRUE

Multiple Choice

You always need a compiler to run a compiled program.

• FALSE

• TRUE

Multiple Choice

A program that is interpreted takes a longer time to run than a

compiled program.

• FALSE

• TRUE

Multiple Choice

Low-level languages are machine-dependent.

• FALSE

• TRUE

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is an example of a high-level programming language?

• Assembly language

• C++

• Machine code

• Binary code

Multiple Choice

What is the purpose of an Integrated Development Environment (IDE)?

• To compile code into machine code

• To run programs on different platforms

• To provide tools for software development tasks in one unified environment

• To write low-level assembly code

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is NOT typically a component of an IDE?

• Code editor

• Debugger

• Hardware simulator

• To write low-Version control integration

Homework

1. List down any three advantages and disadvantages of translators (Interpreters and Compilers).