What does the application software include?

Probably, very often many people heard about application software. Not everyone, however, clearly imagine what it is in fact, referring to it all the applications installed on the computer. Let's try to understand the basic concepts.

What is application software?

As you know, system applications provide a close connection between the "hardware" of the computer, the operating system and the user, which installs additional software products for some purpose. Generally speaking, the application software includes quite a lot of various applications designed to solve a certain task.

At once we will notice that though each application is focused strictly on performance of this or that clearly stated task, it is very often possible to meet and whole program complexes which unite in themselves some functions, owing to presence of corresponding additional program modules.

Tasks of applied software and classification of programs

In fact, if you understand, in general, application software can be called the same package of Microsoft Office. But the applications included in it are already separate application programs. But these programs also have a lot in common with the functional set, although the primary orientation to the performance of a specific task is different.

So, what is included in the application software? There come here applications that can be conditionally divided into several basic types, depending on the initial orientation. Look, even in the Internet, the application sets offered for download are usually divided into groups and categories. It can be said that the application software includes a set of microcircuits connected directly to the RAM for processing data of a certain type with a "circuit emulator" with real speed with real-time tracking of results.

And in the main classification of application software you can find such elements:

• Text editors;
• Spreadsheet editors;
• Database management tools (DBMS) ;
• graphic editor;
• Applications for design;
• Publishing programs;
• HTML editors;
• Means for working on the Internet;
• Multimedia applications.

Now let's look at each category, at least in general terms. After all, the application software contains too many components, so a detailed description of the applications of each type will take a lot of time. In general, we will make a brief overview of the main elements.

Text editors and processors

Any package of this type implies that the application software includes typing. Without it, today is nowhere. Handwritten texts are already receding into the past. At the same time, the category of text editors can be divided into several basic types.

The simplest programs can be called applications like Notepad, although some of them support work even with HTML or higher-level programming languages.

Text processors include more sophisticated applications such as Microsoft Word, which allow you to use formatting, changing design, adding graphics, sound, data from other applications of almost any type, and also having the ability to quickly create web pages.

The third group includes software products such as Adobe Reader. They are designed to work with PDF documents, in which today the majority of technical documentation is distributed. Here there are advanced possibilities for using text or inserting graphic objects. In addition, such programs allow, so to speak, cross-converting files into other formats, which can later be opened in some specialized application.

Spreadsheets

Equally important is the fact that the applied software includes theory and practice of creating and editing spreadsheets. The simplest example is the Microsoft Excel application.

In principle, all programs of this type are initially designed for mathematical, algebraic or trigonometric calculations performed automatically when specifying the appropriate formulas. Quite often there are also quite specific programs calculated even for the solution of tensor equations. A distinctive feature of such applications is that they are able to convert dependent data into diagrams or graphics, rather than insert them into the document as a graphic object, as word processors do. It can also be pivot tables, based on data from electronic documents created in other programs. In general, there are a lot of opportunities here.

Working with databases

The application software includes many packages that involve the processing of databases. In an office suite, Microsoft is Access.

By and large the programs of this type are somewhat similar to the editors of tables. In principle, even the interface for them is almost the same (with minor differences).

This also includes some programs designed for electronic bookkeeping. The most famous and most popular today can be called "1C", which allows you to control, say, the availability of goods in a warehouse, compile accounting and tax reports, pay salaries to employees, etc.

Graphic editor

Graphical editors are very interesting and multifunctional programs. Not surprisingly, the application software includes a huge number of applications of this type with different capabilities.

Of course, there are primitive programs like Paint in the standard set of any Windows operating system, but there are quite powerful professional software products such as Corel Draw, Adobe Photoshop, etc. Their capabilities for processing raster and vector graphics are truly limitless.

Computer aided design systems

Another part of the application software includes specialized engineering packages designed for design. The most striking example here can be called AutoCAD.

What is most interesting, the capabilities of the program are not limited only to the creation of drawings. Here you can create all the necessary technical documentation, perform complex calculations, using the basics of a variety of engineering disciplines such as sopromata or theoretical mechanics, etc. But such a program for a regular user is unclaimed, because they are difficult enough to understand and are used mainly in production.

Publishing house

Professional utilities for publishing are no less popular. For example, very well-known applications Adobe Pagemaker, Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress allow you to make layout, prepare newspapers or magazines for printing, define your own designs with or without a template, and much more.

Actually, almost an archaic set of text, say, on veneers or printing books on special machines, and even more so writing and hand-drawing them - it's just the remnants of the past. In this respect, programs of this type have moved forward so much that our ancestors probably never dreamed of it.

HTML Editors

Applications of this type are also referred to as application software. In most cases, such programs are used to create HTML documents, or more simply, web pages and entire sites. In principle, there are specialized utilities that have rich capabilities, but the same standard "Notepad" or Word can also be attributed to this type of applications, although initially they are oriented somewhat to other purposes.

Today, there are even whole software complexes that allow you to create sites in minutes even with absolute ignorance of HTML. The principle of creation is based on a graphical interface and elements that need to be applied in a specific situation. Naturally, then you can view the document in HTML mode, but it will not say much to the ordinary user.

the Internet

You can not ignore the World Wide Web. It is clear because the application software includes the use of the Internet (Internet Explorer, Opera, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, etc.).

Incidentally, this includes not only browsers that provide surfing, but also e-mail clients, and many download programs that allow you to download the necessary information. Among loaders, there is also a separation into applications such as Downloader and Uploader. The first download information from the Internet, the latter, on the contrary, add it to the Web.

Multimedia

At last it remains to consider the multimedia section. In this set there is a great variety. For example, here there are programs for processing video and audio, special programs for creating music on the computer, various kinds of players, additional plug-ins of various formats, audio and video converters, as well as many other utilities.

Incidentally, here you can include programs such as Power Point for creating presentations of any type, because they, in fact, are also a collection of multimedia elements. Continue this list is endless.