software

software can be split into two different software's
application software
system software

system software covers 4 things

operating system:
manages the computer hardware
manages secondary storage
manages I/O devices
designed to act as an interface between user and computer.
manages the operation of the computer
links hardware application and uses virtual machine


library programs (DLL):
dynamic link library
carry out common tasks
critical for applications
will contain code, data resources
control dialogue boxes
mange memory display text and graphics

translator software:
compiler
assembler
interpreter
used by programmers to convert by one program to another
the CPU doesn't understand the programmers code, has to be translated into machine code of 1's and 0's

utility software:
to ensure the computer is running efficiently often supplied with the operating system
disk formatting tool

RAM- random access memory- volatile
ROM- read only memory- non-volatile

an operating system manages:
hardware to allocate processes
main memory
I/O devices
secondary storage

Virtual machines: the purpose is that the complexities of how tasks are done are hidden away from the user