Chapter

4
Computer Software

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2008, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Types of Application & System Software

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 Application Software

• General Purpose
• Programs that perform common information
processing jobs for end users
• E.g., word processing, spreadsheet
• Also call productivity packages
• Custom Software
• Software applications developed within an
organization for use by that organization

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 Application Software

• Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS)

• Many copies sold
• Minimal changes beyond scheduled upgrades
• Purchasers have no control over specifications,
schedule, or evolution, and no access to source
code or internal documentation
• Product vendor retains the intellectual property
rights of the software

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 Application Software

• Open-source Software
• Developers collaborate on the development of an
application using programming standards which
allow anyone to contribute to the software
• As each developer completes a project, the
application code becomes available and free to
anyone who wants it

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 Business Application Software

• Function-Specific Application Software

• Thousands of these packages support specific
applications of end users
• Examples: customer relationship management,
enterprise resource planning, supply chain
management, Web-enabled electronic commerce

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 Software Suites, Integrated Packages

• Most widely used productivity packages are

bundled together as software suites
• Advantages
• Cost less than buying individual packages
• All have similar GUI
• Work well together
• Disadvantages
• All features not used
• Takes a lot of disk space (bloatware)

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Components of Top Software Suites

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 Integrated Packages

• Integrated packages combine the functions of

several programs into one package
• E.g., Microsoft Works, AppleWorks
• Advantages
• Many functions for lower price
• Uses less disk space
• Frequently pre-installed on microcomputers
• Disadvantages
• Limited functionality

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 Web Browsers

• Software applications that support navigation

through the point-and-click hyper-linked
resources of the Web
• Becoming the universal platform from which end
users launch…
• Information searches
• E-mail
• Multimedia file transfer
• Discussion groups
• Other Internet-based applications

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 Search Engines

• Browsers are used to gain access to Internet

search engines
• Google, Ask Jeeves, Look Smart, Lycos,
Overture, Yahoo!
• Using search engines to find information has
become an indispensable part of Internet,
intranet, and extranet applications

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E-mail, Instant Messaging, and Weblogs

• E-mail
• Software to communicate by sending and
receiving messages and attachments via the
Internet, intranet, or extranet
• Instant messaging (IM)
• Receive electronic messages instantly
• Weblog or blog
• A personal website in dated log format
• Updated with new information about a subject or
range of subjects

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 Word Processing/Desktop Publishing

• Word Processing
• Create, edit, revise, and print documents
• E.g., Microsoft Word, Lotus WordPro, Corel
WordPerfect
• Desktop Publishing
• Produce printed materials that look professionally
published
• E.g., Adobe PageMaker, Microsoft Publisher,
QuarkXPress

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 Electronic Spreadsheets

• Used by virtually every business for…

• Analysis, planning, modeling
• Electronic Spreadsheet
• Worksheet of rows and columns
• Can be stored on local computer or on network
• Requires designing format and developing the
relationships (formulas)
• Most help you develop charts and graphic
displays of spreadsheet results
• Supports what-if questions

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 Presentation Graphics

• Common presentation graphics packages…

• Converts numeric data into graphics displays
• Used to create multimedia presentations of
graphics, photos, animation, and video clips
• E.g., Microsoft PowerPoint, Lotus Freelance,
Corel Presentations
• Top packages can tailor files for transfer in
HTML format to websites

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 Personal Information Managers

• Software for end user productivity and

collaboration
• Stores information about clients
• Manages schedules, appointments, tasks
• Most include ability to access the Web and
provide e-mail capabilities
• Some support team collaboration by sharing
information with other PIM users
• E.g., Lotus Organizer, Microsoft Outlook

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 Groupware

• Software that helps workgroups collaborate on

group assignments
• E-mail, discussion groups, databases, video
conferencing
• E.g., Lotus Notes, Novell GroupWise, Microsoft
Exchange
• Windows SharePoint Services and WebSphere
both allow teams to create websites for
information sharing and document collaboration

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 Software Alternatives

• Outsourcing development and maintenance of

software
• Application service providers (ASPs)
• Companies that own, operate, and maintain
application software and computer system
resources
• Use the application for a fee over the Internet
• Pay-as-you-go
• Use expected to accelerate in the coming years

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 Software Licensing

• All COTS and ASP software is licensed

• Involves the underlying..
• Intellectual property rights
• Copyright
• Trademark
• Trade secrets
• Also involves traditional contract law, including
Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)
• You don’t buy software
• You buy a license to use the software
• Licensed to protect the vendor’s property rights

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 Case 2: Webtop Software

• Web-based applications can run almost as

seamlessly as programs used on the desktop
• Webtop applications may replace the current
suite of desktop applications
• Web applications link to myriad open APIs
• Serves as building blocks for new applications
and data
• Information on the desktop can be fused with
the Web through a powerful but invisible bridge
between the two

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 Case Study Questions

• Do you agree that webtop software will one

day replace suites of desktop applications?
• Will Microsoft succeed in dominating the
webtop?
• Should you invest your time and money in
acquiring and learning how to use some of the
webtop applications mentioned in this case?

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 Categories of Group Software

• System Management Programs

• Manages the hardware, software, network,
and data resources of computer systems
• Examples: operating systems, network manage-
ment programs, database management systems,
system utilities
• System Development Programs
• Helps users develop IS programs and procedures
and then prepare them for processing
• Includes language translators and editors, CASE
and programming tools
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Interface Between End Users and Computer

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 Operating Systems

• Integrated system of programs that…

• Manages the operations of the CPU
• Controls the input/output, storage resources,
and activities of the computer system
• Provides support services as the computer
executes application programs
• The operating system must be loaded and
activated before other tasks can be accomplished

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Operating System Basic Functions

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 User Interface

• The part of the operating system that allows

you to communicate with it
• Three main types…
• Command-driven
• Menu-driven
• Graphical user interfaces (GUI)

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 Resource Management

• Part of the operating system that manages the

hardware and networking resources of a
computer system
• Includes CPU, memory, secondary storage
devices, telecommunications, and input/output
peripherals
• Common functions
• Keeping track of where data and programs are
stored
• Subdividing memory; providing virtual memory
capability

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 File Management

• Part of the operating system that controls the

creation, deletion, and access of files and
programs
• Keeps track of physical location on storage
devices
• Maintains directories of information about the
location and characteristics of stored files

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 Task Management

• Part of the operating system that manages the

accomplishment of end user computing tasks
• Controls which task gets access to the CPU,
and for how long
• Can interrupt the CPU at any time to substitute
a higher priority task
• Supports preemptive and cooperative multi-
tasking and multi-processing

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 Popular Operating Systems

• Windows
• GUI, multitasking, networking, multimedia
• Microsoft’s operating system
• NT, XP, 2003
• Different versions manage servers
• Unix
• Multitasking, multi-user, network-managing
• Portable - can run on mainframes, midrange,
and PCs

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 Popular Operating Systems

• Linux
• Low-cost, powerful reliable Unix-like
operating system
• Open-source
• MAC OS X
• Apple operating system for the iMac
• GUI
• Multitasking
• Multimedia

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Open-Source Licensing Characteristics

• The Program
• Must include source code and allow distribution
in source code as well as compiled form
• The License
• Shall not restrict any party from selling or giving
away the software as a component of an
aggregate software distribution containing
programs from several sources
• Must allow modifications and derived works, and
must allow them to be distributed under the same
terms as the license of the original software
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Open-Source Licensing Characteristics

• The License (continued)

• Must allow modifications and derived works and
allow them to be distributed under the same terms
as the license of the original software
• May restrict source code from being distributed
in modified form only if the license allows the
distribution of patch files with the source code
for the purpose of modifying the program at build
time
• Must not discriminate against any person or any
group of persons
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Open-Source Licensing Characteristics

• The License (continued)

• Must not restrict anyone from making use of the
program in a specific field of endeavor
• The rights attached to the program must apply to
all to whom the program is redistributed, without
the need for execution of an additional license
• Must not be specific to a product
• Must not contaminate other software by placing
restrictions on any software distributed along
with the licensed software

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Other System Management Programs

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 Other System Software

• Utilities
• Miscellaneous housekeeping functions
• Example: Norton utilities includes data backup,
virus protection, data compression, etc.
• Performance Monitors
• Programs that monitor and adjust computer
system to keep them running efficiently
• Security Monitors
• Monitor and control use of computer systems
to prevent unauthorized use of resources

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 Application Servers

• Provide an interface between an operating

system and the application programs of users
• Middleware
• Software that helps diverse software applications
exchange data and work together more efficiently

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 Programming Languages

• Examples of programming in each language

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 Machine Languages

• First generation languages

• The most basic of programming languages
• Strings of binary codes unique to each computer
• Requires specific knowledge of the internal
operations of the CPU being used
• Must specify the storage locations for every
instruction and item of data used
• Difficult to work with, and error prone

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 Assembler Languages

• Second generation languages

• Developed to reduce difficulties in writing
machine language programs
• Uses assemblers to convert the programs into
machine instructions
• Symbols are used to represent operation codes
and storage locations
• Alphabetic abbreviations call mnemonics and
other symbols represent operation codes, storage
locations, and data elements

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 High-Level Languages

• Third generation languages

• Uses brief statements or arithmetic expressions
• Statements translated into machine language by
compilers or interpreters
• Less efficient than assembler languages and
requires greater translation time
• Machine independent
• Examples: BASIC, COBOL, and FORTRAN

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 Fourth-Generation Languages

• Variety of programming languages that are

nonprocedural and conversational
• Encourages programmers to specify the results
wanted; the computer determines the sequence
of instructions that accomplishes the results
• Simplified the programming process
• Natural languages
• Very close to English or other human language
• Sometimes called fifth-generation (5GLs)
• No longer a trade-off between ease of use and
flexibility
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 Object-Oriented Languages

• Combines data elements

and the procedures that
will be performed upon
them into objects
• E.g., data about a bank
account and the
procedures performed
on it, such as interest
calculations

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 Object-Oriented Languages

• Most widely used software development

languages
• Easier to use and more efficient for graphics-
oriented user interfaces
• Reusable: can use an object from one application
in another application
• Examples: Visual Basic, C++, Java
• Most object-oriented languages provide a GUI
that supports visual programming

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 Web Languages

• HTML
• A page description language that creates
hypertext documents for the Web
• XML
• Describes Web page content by applying
identifying tags or contextual labels to the data
• Java
• Object-oriented programming language that is
simple, secure, and platform independent
• Java applets can be executed on any computer

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J2EE versus .Net

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 Web Services

• Web services are software components that are

• Based on framework of Web and object-oriented
standards and technology
• Used to link the applications of different users
and computing platforms via the Web

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How Web Services Work

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 Language Translator Programs

• Translate instructions written in programming

languages into machine language
• Assembler
• Translates assembler language statement
• Compiler
• Translates high-level language statements
• Interpreter
• A compiler that translates and executes each
statement in a program, one at a time

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 Programming Tools

• Help programmers identify and minimize errors

while they are programming
• Graphical programming interfaces
• Programming editors
• Debuggers
• CASE Tools
• A combination of many programming tools into a
single application with a common interface
• Used in different stages of the systems
development process

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Case 4: Linux and Open-Source Software

• Open-source software
• Also called “free” software
• Can be modified
• Typically acquired with a license
• Open-source licenses typically allow you to
• Run the software
• Own the source code
• Modify the source code
• Distribute copies of the software
• Training, support, and documentation typically
must be paid for

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Case 4: Linux and Open-Source Software

• Examples of open-source software…

• Linux
• Apache Web Server
• Sendmail
• Perl scripting language

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 Case Study Questions

• What are the business benefits of adopting

open-source software?
• What are the risks associated with open-source
software?
• How can these risks be addressed?
• Do you see open-source software eventually
replacing the current proprietary software
model?

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