Many users of modern computer systems whose activities are somehow related to such technologies, sooner or later begin to wonder what the classification of software products is. Although such knowledge is not mandatory, in general, it cannot be attributed, nevertheless, understanding the very essence of the issue can sometimes come in handy.
What is the classification of software products?
If we talk about how the software is divided into classes, it is immediately worth noting that in the world there is no single system that relates one or another software component to different categories. However, there are some basic principles by which certain software can be identified.
In the understanding of computer technology, this is called the "classification of software products by field of use." Roughly speaking, such a separation is based on the capabilities of the software itself, as well as the tasks that it is entrusted with. At the same time, one can note both large classes and specific specific applications.
The main classes of software products
Based on generally accepted classification methods, today we can distinguish three large groups, which include a variety of components:
- system software;
- application programs;
- programming and development tools.
Relationship Between Software Product Classes
It goes without saying that such a separation seems rather arbitrary, since all programs belonging to different categories are closely related.
So, for example, in the absence of an operating system, into the environment of which the same drivers or user applications are integrated, there is no need to talk about any work on the computer. Actually, if there were no development tools (programming languages and special platforms), then the creation of the operating systems themselves or installed applications could also not be spoken about. Well, as for the implementation of narrowly targeted tasks, there is generally a connection with the other classes can be traced very strongly. But first things first. To begin with, we will consider the main classes of software products in more detail.
System software
First of all, speaking of such a section as system software, it should be noted that these are software components that are necessary for the functioning of a computer system and must be present on any PC without fail.
Naturally, here too there is a division according to the principle of destination. Among all this, it is worth highlighting the following classes of software products in the field of use:
- basic software;
- auxiliary service software.
In turn, the basic software is divided into the following components:
- local operating systems;
- network OS;
- Drivers
- graphic and text shells.
First, let's look at the last component - operational shells. Their purpose is to provide the most convenient communication between the user and the computer through a specific interface. Today, most systems have graphical interfaces created using object-oriented programming.
At the dawn of the development of computer technology, this interaction was based on the use of what is now called the command line, that is, using special commands that, when executed, gave the desired result.
As for the drivers, they are special applications that provide the interaction of the "iron" components of the computer with the operating system. Roughly speaking, this is a means by which the "OS" can initialize, say, a sound or video card, as well as make full use of its capabilities to transfer certain information to the user. But this, so to speak, is only a general understanding, since in some cases even drivers for virtual devices may be needed to ensure the correct operation of the system as a whole (the simplest example is ASIO4ALL drivers).
As you can already see, these subclasses of software products include operating systems - the very foundation that is a kind of bridge between the computer and the user. Sometimes, as mentioned above, this also applies to “hardware” in the literal sense.
As a service toolkit, additional classes of software products used on a PC also include several basic elements. Here it is worth highlighting the following:
- security systems (antiviruses, firewalls, etc.);
- archivers;
- optimizers;
- software codecs and decoders;
- additional utilities that provide monitoring of the OS, etc.
Application packages
Now consider the so-called application software packages. And they also have their own additional classes of software products. What is this in a general sense?
These are applications and packages that are installed by the user, or any programs present in the operating system itself that help you perform highly targeted tasks.
Take a look. Indeed, even in Windows-systems there is a set of standard utilities for viewing graphics and texts, listening to audio or playing videos, etc. However, today the most common are universal office suites that contain several basic applications for working with documents of various types (tables, texts, databases).
Development and programming tools
Another large group can also be conditionally divided into several subgroups, which can be conditionally interpreted precisely as “classes of software products”. These are four main varieties:
- packages of developers of operating systems;
- driver development packages;
- Application development packages
- software development packages for device microcontrollers.
As a rule, all these tools are similar in only one way - they are based on certain programming languages that allow you to create software products of a certain type to ensure the interaction of the computer with the user, and to create the conditions for the built-in "iron" devices. If you look at these classes of software products more closely, it is easy to notice that there is a development of drivers that are related to system software. And this, so to speak, is an additional argument in favor of the relationship between all categories.
As for the software used, today there are so many languages that you can’t list them all. For example, the C + / C ++ language is most often used to create the OS, mobile programs can be based on the Java language, office applications almost always have built-in support for the Visual Basic language.
Analytics, modeling and forecasting
Separately, it is worthwhile to dwell on packages that are commonly called means of conducting analytical studies, forecasting and creating computer models of the behavior of a process. The classification of software products for creating analytical solutions includes several basic types of software, however, it can be attributed rather to obtaining a certain result, unknown in advance, and the decision is based on the same hypotheses or several initial data and conditions.Today, such models are often used in physics, chemistry and other sciences. What can I say, even the social processes taking place in society are modeled.
On the other hand, here you can also include specialized packages that allow you to perform, say, design work or the development of technology. What is only AutoCAD worth. And if we take into account also mathematical systems capable of solving problems of the most complex level, here you can generally write a separate dissertation.
Automated control systems
Software-based control systems are no longer common today. With all this, this type of software works not only on some factory machines or technological production lines. Quite often you can find applications developed for entire factories.
The same can be observed in some specialized packages that can, for example, carry out personnel management, not to mention accounting. The same tax services, pension funds and many other state institutions use precisely such fully automated systems in their work.
Accounting
Now a few words about what are the classes of software products IP accounting. Again, such packages of information systems (IP) today can be found quite a lot. However, each of them has its own specifics related to the conduct of such operations, taking into account the legislation of a particular country.
In the post-Soviet space, the 1C package has become most widespread, which includes not only accounting modules, but also many additional developments, say, on personnel management, etc. But if you follow a clear logic for the classification of software, all such packages, by and large, relate to application programs in the broadest sense.
Separation of application programs using multimedia as an example
Now let's look at some general principles that are present in the division of programs into groups within the largest class - application software.
To make it clearer, here is an example of multimedia. It can distinguish several main groups:
- audio;
- video;
- graphics;
- animation.
The same audio has its own subgroups. For example, some applications are aimed exclusively at recording or processing sound, while others (music sequencers) can provide their own means without pre-recording audio. Mostly software synthesizers and samplers are used here.
By the type of connection, the same synthesizers can be divided into VST tools, DX modules connected via DirectX interface, RTAS libraries, etc. A separate category is occupied by effects (reverb, chorus, delay, phaser, flanger, etc.). They do not generate their own sound, but they can process it in real time. However, this is only the most common example, because in any direction (not even multimedia), the structure of subclasses can be developed quite widely.
Specific program classes
Finally, let's look at programs that can be attributed to several classes at once. This primarily concerns the means of the Internet.
Judge for yourself, because many browsers like Mozilla Firefox are both a means of access to the World Wide Web, and a means of viewing web pages, and a means of listening to music or watching videos, and a means of downloading content to a computer, and even a means of web development.
It goes without saying that in this case various optimizers, boot loaders, etc. were not described. By and large, this is application software, however, in some of these tools you can also find signs of service system software, so you need to mention them in several application groups at once.
Conclusion
Here is a brief summary of what software classes are.Pay attention to the fact that here is a fairly brief and, so to say, general information, because all three main groups of software can be divided and separated, highlighting the structure of a narrow focus, depending on the tasks assigned to the software components of each type. However, it seems that for a basic simple understanding of the essence of the issue this will be enough, so that even a person who does not particularly delve into such concepts can clearly distinguish between themselves the main types of software products.
