What is Application Software? - Definition, Examples & Types

Application software is a program or group of programs designed for end users. These programs are divided into two classes: system software and application software. While system software consists of low-level programs that interact with computers at a basic level, application software resides above system software and includes database programs, word processors, spreadsheets, etc. Application software may be grouped along with system software or published alone.

Software Types

The term 'software' refers to the set of electronic program instructions or data a computer processor reads in order to perform a task or operation. In contrast, the term 'hardware' refers to the physical components that you can see and touch, such as the computer hard drive, mouse, and keyboard.

Software can be categorized according to what it is designed to accomplish. There are two main types of software: systems software and application software.

Systems Software

Systems software includes the programs that are dedicated to managing the computer itself, such as the operating system, file management utilities, and disk operating system (or DOS). The operating system manages the computer hardware resources in addition to applications and data. Without systems software installed in our computers we would have to type the instructions for everything we wanted the computer to do!

Techopedia explains Application Software

The different types of application software are:

Application Suite: Has multiple applications bundled together. Related functions, features and user interfaces interact with each other.
Enterprise Software: Addresses an organization's needs and data flow in a huge distributed environment.
Enterprise Infrastructure Software: Provides capabilities required to support enterprise software systems.
Information Worker Software: Addresses individual needs required to manage and create information for individual projects within departments.
Content Access Software: Used to access contents and addresses a desire for published digital content and entertainment.
Educational Software: Holds contents adopted for use by students.
Media Development Software: Addresses individual needs to generate and print electronic media for others to consume.