What exactly does computer software refer to

Computer software is the program and its documentation in the computer system, is the interface between the user and the hardware interface, the program is the processing object of the computational task and the description of the processing rules; documentation is in order to facilitate the understanding of the program required for the elucidation of the information.

Computer software is generally divided into two categories:

System software is a variety of operating systems, such as windows, Linux, UNIX, etc., but also includes operating system patches and hardware drivers, are system software category.

Application software can be subdivided into more categories, such as tools, games, management software, etc. belong to the application software category.

Expanded

The difference between computer software and hardware

1, different forms of expression

Hardware has a tangible form, color, taste, visible, touch, smell. The software is invisible, colorless, tasteless, invisible, untouchable, smelling. Most of the software exists in people's heads or on paper, it is correct or not, good or bad, until the program runs on the machine to know.

2, different production methods

Software is the development, it is a high degree of human intelligence to play, not the traditional sense of hardware manufacturing. Although there are many **** the same point between software development and hardware manufacturing, but the two activities are fundamentally different.

3, the requirements of different

Hardware products are allowed to have errors, while software products are not allowed to have errors.

4, maintenance is different

Hardware is to use the old and bad, in theory, the software is not used to use the old and bad, but in practice, the software will become old and bad. Because in the whole survival of the software, has been in the state of change (maintenance).

Baidu Encyclopedia-Computer Software