Software and hardware are integrally connected, and the distinction between them can be subtle. When you buy a word processing program, you are buying software, but the disk on which the program is recorded is hardware. Software is usually divided into two categories. Systems Software controls the workings of the computer. It includes Operating Systems , Utilities , Compilers , Assemblers , and File Management tools.
Applications handle the multitude of tasks that users want their computers to perform.
Examples are Word Processing programs, Database Management Systems , Spreadsheets , and games. Applications software is unable to run without the operating system and utilities. Two additional categories that contain elements of systems and applications software are Network software, which enables computers to communicate, and programming languages, which give programmers the tools to write programs. 1. application Compact American Dictionary of Computer Words 2. All rights reserved.