SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS
System SoftwareA System Software is a collection of programs written to service other programs. The system software is the link between the hardware of a computer system and the application software. The operating system is the obvious example. System software is different from application software in the sense that application software enables the end-user to perform task like word processing, etc. Other examples of system software are compilers and editors.
Real-Time SoftwareReal-Time Software are programs that monitor, analyze, control real world events as they occur e.g. in telemedicine or in car assembly factories.
Business SoftwareBusiness software is a software that enables a business to increase its production capacity. Different software exists for different size of businesses.
E.g. a small business may use home accounting software, and office suites such as Microsoft Office.
A medium size business has a larger variety of software applications such as accounting, groupware, customer relationship management, human resources software, loan origination software, shopping cart software, field service software, and other productivity improving software.
Larger businesses use what is called enterprise level software applications, such as those in the fields of enterprise resource planning, enterprise content management (ECM), business process management and product lifecycle management.
Engineering/Scientific SoftwareEngineering & scientific software is characterized by “number crunching” algorithms.An algorithm is a finite list of well-defined instructions for accomplishing some task that, given an initial state, will proceed through a well-defined series of successive states, possibly eventually terminating in an end-state.Number crunching means any computing operation that requires a large number of arithmetic operations (adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing).
Examples are Matlab,Baudline,Maple,etc.
Embedded SoftwareEmbedded Software is used to control products and systems for the consumer and industrial market and usually reside in read-only memory (rom) of a microcontroller e.g. software used to control a DVD player or a microwave oven.
AI SoftwareArtificial Intelligence Software makes use of non-numerical algorithms to solve complex problems i.e. softwares which are able to think by themselves and make computers to act humanly.Examples are speech recognition,evolutionary robotics,etc.
Web-ApplicationsA Web application is a software application that is accessed through the web i.e. through internet or other networks like LAN, WAN or an intranet. Examples are webmails,weblogs,etc...
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/