Application Software

Yap Yoke Theng( 1 Hemah )

Introduction To Application Software

o Known as Application or App( I Phone app, computer app etc. etc.) o Designed to help a user perform singular or multiple specific tasks o Deals principally with documents oMay be bundled with a computer and its system software

Word Processing Software

This software enables the users to create and edit documents. The most popular examples of this type of software are MSWord, WordPad, Notepad and some other text editors.

Database Software
Database is a structured collection of data. A computer database relies on database software to organize the data and enable the database users to achieve database operations. Database software allows the users to store and retrieve data from databases. Examples are Oracle, MSAccess, etc.

Spreadsheet Software
Excel, Lotus 1-2-3 and Apple Numbers are some examples of spreadsheet software. Spreadsheet software allows users to perform calculations. They simulate paper worksheets by displaying multiple cells that make up a grid.

Multimedia Software
They allow the users to create and play audio and video media. They are capable of playing media files. Audio converters, players, burners, video encoders and decoders are some forms of multimedia software. Examples of this type of software include Real Player and Media Player

Presentation Software
The software that is used to display information in the form of a slide show is known as presentation software. This type of software includes three functions, namely, editing that allows insertion and formatting of text, methods to include graphics in the text and a functionality of executing the slide shows. Microsoft PowerPoint is the best example of presentation software.

Types of Application Software

Word Processing Software: Allows users to create, edit a document. Example :MS Word, Word Pad etc . Spreadsheet Software: Allows users to create document and perform calculation. Example: Excel, Lotus1-2-3 etc. Database Software: Allows users to store and retrieve vast amount of data. Example: MS Access, MySQL, Oracle etc. Presentation Graphic Software: Allows users to create visual presentation. Example: MS Power Point Multimedia Software: Allows users to create image, audio, video etc. Example: Real Player, Media Player etc.

Commercial Software: Installation in number of computers is specified by the software vendor/producer. User only buys the license to use it. User does not buy the software. He/she may not be allowed to install a software more than one machine. A demo version of software may exist for free but demo version does not include all the key components of the software. Shareware: May be free of charge or the software company may charge a nominal fee. Users can download these kinds of software from the Internet. Example: Real Player full version, MP3 player full version, different games downloaded from he Internet. Freeware: Software that are given away for free by the vendor/producer. Example: Real Player trial version, MP3 Player trial version etc.

Installed Software: Software you buy from market or download from the Internet to your computer. The software is physically installed in your computer and runs from your Hard Drive. Usually these kinds of software are wrapped inside a CD case when you buy it from market. Example: MS Office, Games etc. Web Based Software: Software that are run from the Internet. Example: Online games, Virus protection software that you download from Internet etc. Software Suites: Related software programs are sometimes sold bundled together as a software suite. Example: MS Office. When you purchase MS Office license you basically purchase the right to install and use MS Word, MS Excel, Power Point, and FrontPage

Embedding: Allows you to copy and paste part of document from one format (MS Word) to another (Excel). Linking: Allows you to create a link between a source format (Excel) and a destination format (Power Point). In linking if the source file data change the destination data will change. In Embedding if the source data change destination data does not change

Word Processor ( Word Processing Software )

A word processor is a computer application used for the production (including composition, editing, formatting, and possibly printing) of any sort of printable material.

Word processor may also refer to a type of stand-alone office machine, popular in the 1970s and 1980s, combining the keyboard text-entry and printing functions of an electric typewriter with a dedicated processor (like a computer processor) for the editing of text. Although features and design varied between manufacturers and models, with new features added as technology advanced, word processors for several years usually featured a monochrome display and the ability to save documents on memory cards or diskettes. Later models introduced innovations such as spell-checking programs, increased formatting options, and dot-matrix printing. As the more versatile combination of a personal computer and separate printer became commonplace, most businessmachine companies stopped manufacturing the word processor as a standalone office machine. As of 2009 there were only two U.S. companies, Classic and AlphaSmart, which still made stand-alone word processors. Many older machines, however, remain in use. Since 2009, Sentinel has offered a machine described as a word processor, but in actuality it is more accurately a highly specialised microcomputer, used for accounting and publishing

Word processors are descended from early text formatting tools (sometimes called text justification tools, from their only real capability). Word processing was one of the earliest applications for the personal computer in office productivity.

Although early word processors used tag-based markup for document formatting, most modern word processors take advantage of a graphical user interface providing some form of what-you-see-is-what-you-get editing. Most are powerful systems consisting of one or more programs that can produce any arbitrary combination of images, graphics and text, the latter handled with type-setting capability.

Microsoft Word is the most widely used word processing software. Microsoft estimates that over 500,000,000 people use the Microsoft Office suite, which includes Word. Many other word processing applications exist, including WordPerfect (which dominated the market from the mid-1980s to early-1990s on computers running Microsoft's MS-DOS operating system) and open source applications OpenOffice.org Writer, AbiWord, KWord, and LyX. Web-based word processors, such as Google Docs, are a relatively new category

Database Software
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality (for example, the availability of rooms in hotels), in a way that supports processes requiring this information (for example, finding a hotel with vacancies).

The term "database" refers both to the way its users view it, and to the logical and physical materialization of its data, content, in files, computer memory, and computer data storage. This definition is very general, and is independent of the technology used. However, not every collection of data is a database; the term database implies that the data is managed to some level of quality (measured in terms of accuracy, availability, usability, and resilience) and this in turn often implies the use of a general-purpose Database management system (DBMS).

The term database is correctly applied to the data and data structures, and not to the DBMS which is a software system used to manage the data. The structure of a database is generally too complex to be handled without its DBMS, and any attempt to do otherwise is very likely to result in database corruption. DBMSs are packaged as computer software products: well-known products include the Oracle DBMS, Access and SQL Server from Microsoft, DB2 from IBM and the Open source DBMS MySQL. Each such DBMS product currently supports many thousands of databases all over the world.

Spreadsheet software
A spreadsheet is a computer application that simulates a paper accounting worksheet.

It displays multiple cells usually in a two-dimensional matrix or grid consisting of rows and columns. Each cell contains alphanumeric text, numeric values or formulas. A formula defines how the content of that cell is to be calculated from the contents of any other cell (or combination of cells) each time any cell is updated. Spreadsheets are frequently used for financial information because of their ability to re-calculate the entire sheet automatically after a change to a single cell is made. A pseudo third dimension to the matrix is sometimes applied as another layer, or layers/sheets, of two-dimensional data.

Visicalc is the first electronic spreadsheet on a microcomputer, and it helped turn the Apple II computer into a success and greatly assisted in their widespread application. Lotus 1-2-3 was the leading spreadsheet when DOS was the dominant operating system. Excel now has the largest market share on the Windows and Macintosh platforms

Multimedia Software
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun (a medium with multiple content forms) or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which only use traditional forms of printed or hand - produced handmaterial. Multimedia includes a combination of text, audio, still images, animation, video, and interactivity content forms.

Multimedia is usually recorded and played, displayed or accessed by information content processing devices, such as computerized and electronic devices, but can also be part of a live performance. Multimedia (as an adjective) also describes electronic media devices used to store and experience multimedia content. Multimedia is distinguished from mixed media in fine art; by including audio, for example, it has a broader scope. The term "rich media" is synonymous for interactive multimedia. Hypermedia can be considered one particular multimedia application.

Multimedia may be broadly divided into linear and nonlinear categories. Linear active content progresses without any navigational control for the viewer such as a cinema presentation. Non-linear content offers user interactivity to control progress as used with a computer game or used in self-paced computer based training. Hypermedia is an example of non-linear content.

Multimedia presentations can be live or recorded. A recorded presentation may allow interactivity via a navigation system. A live multimedia presentation may allow interactivity via an interaction with the presenter or performer.

Multimedia presentations may be viewed by person on stage, projected, transmitted, or played locally with a media player. A broadcast may be a live or recorded multimedia presentation. Broadcasts and recordings can be either analog or digital electronic media technology. Digital online multimedia may be downloaded or streamed. Streaming multimedia may be live or ondemand.

Multimedia games and simulations may be used in a physical environment with special effects, with multiple users in an online network, or locally with an offline computer, game system, or simulator The various formats of technological or digital multimedia may be intended to enhance the users' experience, for example to make it easier and faster to convey information. Or in entertainment or art, to transcend everyday experience.

Enhanced levels of interactivity are made possible by combining multiple forms of media content. Online multimedia is increasingly becoming object-oriented and data-driven, enabling applications with collaborative end-user innovation and personalization on multiple forms of content over time. Examples of these range from multiple forms of content on Web sites like photo galleries with both images (pictures) and title (text) userupdated, to simulations whose co-efficients, events, illustrations, animations or videos are modifiable, allowing the multimedia "experience" to be altered without reprogramming. In addition to seeing and hearing, Haptic technology enables virtual objects to be felt. Emerging technology involving illusions of taste and smell may also enhance the multimedia experience.

Presentation Software
A presentation program (also called a presentation graphics program) is a computer software package used to display information, normally in the form of a slide show. It typically includes three major functions: an editor that allows text to be inserted and formatted, a method for inserting and manipulating graphic images and a slide slideshow system to display the content.

Notable examples
Apple Keynote Corel Presentations Google Docs Harvard Graphics IBM Lotus Freelance Graphics Microsoft PowerPoint OpenOffice.org Impress Prezi

References
http://www.wikipedia.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentation_program http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_processor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spreadsheet