Software

Software: Definition

Software is programs that run on computers, e.g. a word processor.

CAD (Computer Aided Design).

CAD systems provide 2D and 3D drawing for professionals such as designers and architects. A design for a new kitchen might be 'visualised' in a 3D CAD program. A CAD program typically includes: 2D, 3D drawing, scale drawing, wide range of drawing tools (straight line, shapes, curves), library of symbols, rotation to view the design from all angles, rendering of surfaces to see the drawing as realistically as possible.

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Expert System

An expert system is a software application that puts the knowledge of human experts into an accessible form. An expert system consists of a knowledge base and a series of rules that are applied to the knowledge to allow questions to be asked and conclusions to be drawn. They contain knowledge derived from a number of human experts, collected by interview or research. They allow users to ask questions that often lead to a list of possible answers and further questions until the final answer is obtained. Possible answers may be expressed as percentage likelihoods or probabilities.

Wikipedia.

The stages in creating an expert system:

1. Create a knowledge base that uses some form of knowledge representation to capture and store the knowledge of a number of experts in the subject e.g. medical knowledge for diagnosis; location of oil reserves from geologists; sources of problems with cars; identification of plants and animals.
2. Gather the knowledge from the experts and fit it into the representation devised earlier e.g. symptoms of certain medical conditions such as abdominal pain.
3. Develop a suitable interface e.g. question and response; place the expert system in a suitable location so it can be used alongside subject experts e.g. in a hospital

Computer Assisted Learning (CAL)

This is software written to provide instruction to students. Includes software for students on e.g. Physics and also training programmes for e.g. pilots, soldiers.

Advantages: work at own pace, work when want, use it many times, quizzes and feedback provided, learn without teacher, useful for remote locations

Disadvantages: no teacher to help with problems, expensive, may become isolated, need to be motivated (easier to attend lessons)

Operating System

An operating system is the software that turns bits of hardware, processor, memory, disk drive, etc., into a working machine.

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Applications Software

An application is a program that performs a task for a user e.g. word processing, graphics, music composer, presentation graphics.

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Network Licence

A network licence gives a user permission to install software on their networked computer. There is no need to buy more than one copy of the software but there must be enough licences to cover use of the program on the computers.

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