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Introduction to
Software
Phase-II Study Notes
For NABARD Gr. A IT Officer Exam

For FOR
NABARD
RBIGr. A IT Officer
Grade B EXAMEXAM
Introduction-to-Software Free NABARD e-book

Introduction to Software
Phase-II Study Notes for NABARD Gr. A IT Officer Exam

Introduction
• Software is a set of instructions, data or programs used to operate computers and
execute specific tasks.

• It is the opposite of hardware, which describes the physical aspects of a computer.

• Software is a generic term used to refer to applications, scripts and programs that
run on a device.

• It can be thought of as the variable part of a computer, while the hardware is the
invariable part.

• The two main categories of software are application software and system software.

• An application is software that fulfils a specific need or performs tasks. System

software is designed to run a computer's hardware and provides a platform for
applications to run on.

• Other types of software include programming software, which provides the

programming tools software developers need; middleware, which sits between
system software and applications; and driver software, which operates computer
devices and peripherals.

Examples and Types of Software

Among the various categories of software, the most common types include the following:

1. Application Software

The most common type of software, application software is a computer software package
that performs a specific function for a user, or in some cases, for another application. An
application can be self-contained, or it can be a group of programs that run the application
for the user.
Examples of modern applications include office suites, graphics software, databases and
database management programs, web browsers, word processors, software development
tools, image editors and communication platforms.
Introduction-to-Software Free NABARD e-book

2. System Software

These software programs are designed to run a computer's application programs and
hardware. System software coordinates the activities and functions of the hardware and
software.

In addition, it controls the operations of the computer hardware and provides an environment
or platform for all the other types of software to work in. The OS is the best example of system
software; it manages all the other computer programs.

Other examples of system software include firmware, computer language translators and
system utilities.

3. Driver Software

Also known as device drivers, this software is often considered a type of system software.

Device drivers control the devices and peripherals connected to a computer, enabling them
to perform their specific tasks. Every device that is connected to a computer needs at least
one device driver to function.

Examples include software that comes with any nonstandard hardware, including special
game controllers, as well as the software that enables standard hardware, such as USB
storage devices, keyboards, headphones, and printers.

4. Middleware

The term middleware describes software that mediates between application and system
software or between two different kinds of application software.

For example, middleware enables Microsoft Windows to talk to Excel and Word. It is also
used to send a remote work request from an application on a computer that has one kind of
OS, to an application on a computer with a different OS. It also enables newer applications to
work with legacy ones.

5. Programming Software
Computer programmers use programming software to write code. Programming software
and programming tools enable developers to develop, write, test and debug other software
programs.
Examples of programming software include assemblers, compilers, debuggers, and
interpreters.
Introduction-to-Software Free NABARD e-book

How Does a Software Work?

All software provides the directions and data computers need to work and meet users' needs.
However, the two different types -- application software and system software -- work in
distinctly different ways.

• Application Software

Application software consists of many programs that perform specific functions for
end-users, such as writing reports and navigating websites.

Applications can also perform tasks for other applications. Applications on a

computer cannot run on their own; they require a computer's OS, along with other
supporting system software programs, to work.

These desktop applications are installed on a user's computer and use the computer
memory to carry out tasks. They take up space on the computer's hard drive and do
not need an internet connection to work.

However, desktop applications must adhere to the requirements of the hardware

devices they run on.

Web applications, on the other hand, only require internet access to work; they do
not rely on the hardware and system software to run. Consequently, users can launch
web applications from devices that have a web browser.

Since the components responsible for the application functionality are on the server,
users can launch the app from Windows, Mac, Linux, or any other OS.

• System Software
System software sits between the computer hardware and the application software.
Users do not interact directly with system software as it runs in the background,
handling the basic functions of the computer.
This software coordinates a system's hardware and software so users can run high-
level application software to perform specific actions.
System software executes when a computer system boots up and continues running
as long as the system is on.

Design and Implementation

• The software development lifecycle is a framework that project managers use to
describe the stages and tasks associated with designing software.
Introduction-to-Software Free NABARD e-book

• The first steps in the design lifecycle are planning the effort and then analysing the
needs of the individuals who will use the software and creating detailed requirements.
After the initial requirements analysis, the design phase aims to specify how to fulfil
those user requirements.

• The next step is implementation, where development work is completed, and then
software testing happens. The maintenance phase involves any tasks required to
keep the system running.

• The software design includes a description of the structure of the software that will
be implemented, data models, interfaces between system components and
potentially the algorithms the software engineer will use.

• The software design process transforms user requirements into a form that computer
programmers can use to do the software coding and implementation. The software
engineers develop the software design iteratively, adding detail and correcting the
design as they develop it.

The Different Types of Software Design include the following:

• Architectural design: This is the foundational design, which identifies the overall
structure of the system, its main components, and their relationships with one
another using architectural design tools.

• High-level design: This is the second layer of design that focuses on how the system,
along with all its components, can be implemented in form of modules supported
by a software stack. A high-level design describes the relationships between data flow
and the various modules and functions of the system.

• Detailed design: This third layer of design focuses on all the implementation details
necessary for the specified architecture.

How to Maintain Software Quality?

• Software quality measures if the software meets both its functional and non-
functional requirements.

• Functional requirements identify what the software should do. They include
technical details, data manipulation and processing, calculations or any other specific
function that specifies what an application aims to accomplish.

• Non-functional requirements -- also known as quality attributes -- determine how the

system should work. Non-functional requirements include portability, disaster
recovery, security, privacy, and usability.
Introduction-to-Software Free NABARD e-book

• Software testing detects and solves technical issues in the software source code and
assesses the overall usability, performance, security, and compatibility of the
product to ensure it meets its requirements.

The Dimensions of Software Quality include the Following Characteristics:

• Accessibility: The degree to which a diverse group of people, including individuals who
require adaptive technologies such as voice recognition and screen magnifiers, can
comfortably use the software.

• Compatibility: The suitability of the software for use in a variety of environments, such
as with different OSes, devices, and browsers.

• Efficiency: The ability of the software to perform well without wasting energy,
resources, effort, time, or money.

• Functionality: Software's ability to carry out its specified functions.

• Installability: The ability of the software to be installed in a specified environment.

• Localization: The various languages, time zones and other such features a software
can function in.

• Portability: The ability of the software to be easily transferred from one location to
another.

• Reliability: The software's ability to perform a required function under specific

conditions for a defined period of time without any errors.

• Scalability: The measure of the software's ability to increase or decrease performance

in response to changes in its processing demands.

• Security: The software's ability to protect against unauthorized access, invasion of

privacy, theft, data loss, malicious software, etc.

To maintain software quality once it is deployed, developers must constantly adapt it to meet
new customer requirements and handle problems customers identify. This includes
improving functionality, fixing bugs, and adjusting software code to prevent issues.

When it comes to performing maintenance, there are four types of changes developers can
make, including:
• Corrective: Users often identify and report bugs that developers must fix, including
coding errors and other problems that keep the software from meeting its
requirements.
Introduction-to-Software Free NABARD e-book

• Adaptive: Developers must regularly make changes to their software to ensure it is

compatible with changing hardware and software environments, such as when a new
version of the OS comes out.

• Perfective: These are changes that improve system functionality, such as improving
the user interface or adjusting software code to enhance performance.

• Preventive: These changes are done to keep software from failing and include tasks
such as restructuring and optimizing code.

Modern Software Development

• DevOps is an organizational approach that brings together software development
and IT operations teams.

• It promotes communication and collaboration between these two groups.

• The term also describes the use of iterative software development practices that use
automation and programmable infrastructure. Get the full picture in our ultimate
guide to DevOps.

Software Licensing and Patents

• A software license is a legally binding document that restricts the use and distribution
of software.

• Typically, software licenses provide users with the right to one or more copies of the
software without violating copyright.

• The license outlines the responsibilities of the parties that enter into the agreement
and may place restrictions on how the software can be used.

• Software licensing terms and conditions generally include fair use of the software,
the limitations of liability, warranties, disclaimers, and protections if the software or
its use infringes on the intellectual property rights of others.

• Licenses typically are for proprietary software, which remains the property of the
organization, group or individual that created it; or for free software, where users can
run, study, change and distribute the software.

• Open source is a type of software where the software is developed collaboratively,

and the source code is freely available.

• With open-source software licenses, users can run, copy, share and change the
software similar to free software.
Introduction-to-Software Free NABARD e-book

• Over the last two decades, software vendors have moved away from selling software
licenses on a one-time basis to a software-as-a-service subscription model.

• Software vendors host the software in the cloud and make it available to customers,
who pay a subscription fee and access the software over the internet.

• Although a copyright can prevent others from copying a developer's code, a copyright
cannot stop them from developing the same software independently without
copying.

• A patent, on the other hand, enables a developer to prevent another person from
using the functional aspects of the software a developer claims in a patent, even if
that other person developed the software independently.

• In general, the more technical software is, the more likely it can be patented. For
example, a software product could be granted a patent if it creates a new kind of
database structure or enhances the overall performance and function of a computer.

History of Software
The term software was not used until the late 1950s. During this time, although different
types of programming software were being created, they were typically not commercially
available.
Consequently, users -- mostly scientists and large enterprises -- often had to write their own
software.

A Brief Timeline of the History of Software

• June 21, 1948: Tom Kilburn, a computer scientist, writes the world's first piece of
software for the Manchester Baby computer at the University of Manchester in
England.

• The early 1950s: General Motors creates the first OS, for the IBM 701 Electronic Data
Processing Machine. It is called General Motors Operating System, or GM OS.

• 1958: Statistician John Tukey coins the word software in an article about computer
programming.

• The late 1960s: Floppy disks are introduced and are used in the 1980s and 1990s to
distribute software.

• Nov. 3, 1971: AT&T releases the first edition of the Unix OS.

• 1977: Apple releases the Apple II and consumer software takes off.
Introduction-to-Software Free NABARD e-book

• 1979: VisiCorp releases VisiCalc for the Apple II, the first spreadsheet software for
personal computers.

• 1981: Microsoft releases MS-DOS, the OS on which many of the early IBM computers
ran. IBM begins selling software, and commercial software becomes available to the
average consumer.

• The 1980s: Hard drives become standard on PCs, and manufacturers start bundling
software in computers.

• 1983: The free software movement is launched with Richard Stallman's GNU (GNU is
not Unix) Linux project to create a Unix-like OS with source code that can be freely
copied, modified, and distributed.

• 1984: Mac OS is released to run Apple's Macintosh line.

• The mid-1980s: Key software applications, including AutoDesk AutoCAD, Microsoft

Word and Microsoft Excel, are released.

• 1985: Microsoft Windows 1.0 is released.

• 1989: CD-ROMs become standard and hold much more data than floppy disks. Large
software programs can be distributed quickly, easily, and relatively inexpensively.

• 1991: The Linux kernel, the basis for the open-source Linux OS, is released.

• 1997: DVDs are introduced and able to hold more data than CDs, making it possible to
put bundles of programs, such as the Microsoft Office Suite, onto one disk.

• 1999: Salesforce.com uses cloud computing to pioneer software delivery over the
internet.

• 2000: The term software as a service (SaaS) comes into vogue.

• 2007: iPhone is launched, and mobile applications begin to take hold.

• 2010 to the present: DVDs are becoming obsolete as users buy and download
software from the internet and the cloud. Vendors move to subscription-based
models and SaaS has become common.

Sources Referred
• WIKI
• Information Practice Book
Introduction-to-Software Free NABARD e-book

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