Technical Implementation(Software) Flashcards
Define Software
Software is the instructions and data that allows the computer to run and the user to accomplish tasks
What type of software is an operating system?
Systems Software
State the functions of an Operating System
<ul> <li> Interpreting User Commands</li> <li>Memory Management</li> <li>File Management </li> <li>Input/Output Management</li> <li>Resource Allocation</li> <li>Error Reporting</li> </ul>
Describe the function of an operating system in
a) Memory Management
b) File Management
a) Memory management - keeps track of how much space is left, controls where data/programs are placed
b) File management - manages the backing storage devices, ensures no files are overwritten, organises hierarchical folder system
Define what is meant by ‘licence’
A licence is when you have permission to have a copy of the Operating System
Olivia is the president of a large company and is looking to buy software for all of the computers in the company. What type of licence should she get?
Site Licence
Is brainscape an example of freeware or shareware? Explain why
Brainscape is an example of <em>shareware<em> because although it is free of use, you do have to pay if you want extra functionality( Go pro/upgrade) such as randomisation of cards and seeing user statistics </em></em>
Explain the difference between proprietary software and open source software
Proprietary - distributed without source code, authors have full copyright, not able to be shared, modified or reverse engineered
Open Source - source code is available, able to modify and redistribute, often developed collaboratively
Describe two advantages and two disadvantages of open source compared to propreitary
Advantages: Don’t have to wait for next update to fix bug in code, free to distribute and change
Disadvantages: May not be straightforward to learn, May have to switch to open source platform to use software
Define ‘portability’ of a system
Portability of a system is <em>the ability of the software to run on a different system other than the one it was designed for with little or no change</em>
Describe some current trends in operating system
<ul>
<li>Movement away from command driven interfaces, which require the user to learn the commands to be entered to GUI(Graphical User Interface) to allow the OS to be more user friendly</li>
<li>As systems have movement from keyboard and mouse controlled to touchscreen, there has been a shift in OS as new operating systems must be designed to respond to user's touch instead of a click of the keyboard or mouse</li>
</ul>
What type of operating system does a desktop use?
Disk based operating system
What is a ‘thin client’?
A thin client is a low specification computer used on a network where most applications run on a server
Define commercial software
Commercial Software is software that is sold for a profit
What is the role of an operating system when data is being transferred to a peripheral?
Input/Output Management handles the transfer of data and is responsible for the communication between devices and the signals of these devices. I/O will check to see if devices are ready for transfer. If data is lost during transmission, error reporting will display an error message.
