Software

Revolutionizing data access through new software tool: Tiled

Every time scientists study a new material for future batteries or investigate diseases to develop new drugs, they must wade through an ocean of data. Today, a whole ecosystem of scientific tools creates a wild variety of ...

Software

Zoom has another security flaw

Researchers at a company called Bleeping Computer have exposed another security flaw with the conferencing application Zoom—one that allows hackers to steal user passwords. The vulnerability in the software application ...

Internet

Building a template for the future 6G network

Traditional networks are unable to keep up with the demands of modern computing, such as cutting-edge computation and bandwidth-demanding services like video analytics and cybersecurity. In recent years, there has been a ...

Security

New software stops ransomware attacks

Engineers from SMU's Darwin Deason Institute for Cybersecurity have developed software that detects ransomware attacks before attackers can inflict catastrophic damage.

Software

Hyperspectral imaging on an integrated chip

Hyperspectral cameras split the light reflected by an object into many narrow spectral bands, which they capture and process separately. That way, they record a spectral signature for each pixel in a scene. This signature ...

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Application software

Application software is a computer program that functions and is operated by means of a computer, with the purpose of supporting or improving the software user's work. In other words, it is the subclass of computer software that employs the capabilities of a computer directly and thoroughly to a task that the user wishes to perform. This should be contrasted with system software (infrastructure) or middleware (computer services/ processes integrators), which is involved in integrating a computer's various capabilities, but typically does not directly apply them in the performance of tasks that benefit the user. In this context the term application refers to both the application software and its implementation.

A simple, if imperfect analogy in the world of hardware would be the relationship of an electric light bulb (an application) to an electric power generation plant (a system). The power plant merely generates electricity, not itself of any real use until harnessed to an application like the electric light that performs a service that benefits the user.

Typical examples of 'software applications' are word processors, spreadsheets, media players and database applications.

Multiple applications bundled together as a package are sometimes referred to as an application suite. Microsoft Office, OpenOffice.org, and iWork, which bundle together a word processor, a spreadsheet, and several other discrete applications, are typical examples. The separate applications in a suite usually have a user interface that has some commonality making it easier for the user to learn and use each application. And often they may have some capability to interact with each other in ways beneficial to the user. For example, a spreadsheet may be embedded in a word processor document even though it has been created in a separate spreadsheet application.

User-written software tailors systems to meet the user's specific needs. User-written software include spreadsheet templates, word processor macros, scientific simulations, graphics and animation scripts. Even email filters are a kind of user software. Users create this software themselves and often overlook how important it is.

In some types of embedded systems, the application software and the operating system software may be indistinguishable to the user, as in the case of software used to control a VCR, DVD player or microwave oven.

This definition may exclude some applications that may exist on some computers in large organizations. For an alternative definition of an application: see Application Portfolio Management.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA