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Diploma in Higher Education Studies

Software: system and application software

HES 213 · Introduction to Computer Science — Week 3 of 16

CourseHES 213
Week3 of 16
SemesterII
TutorOnline in the course chat

This week’s topics

Software: system and application software

  1. Operating systems and utilities
  2. Apps and programs

What you will be able to do

  • 1.1 Describe the role of hardware and software components.

Activity

Sort a list of software into system and application software.

Study materials

Further resources

  • Workplace Software and Skills, 2.1: Software Basics · PDF · OpenStax Workplace Software and Skills (2023), 2.1: system vs application software and common apps, pp. 60–63 · for registered students
  • Introduction to Computer Science, 6.1: What Is an Operating System? · PDF · OpenStax Introduction to Computer Science (2024), 6.1: operating systems and utilities, pp. 240–245 · for registered students
  • The UNIX time-sharing system · Open-access article · Ritchie & Thompson (1974), Communications of the ACM. The authors describe an operating system and its utility programs. · for registered students
Materials marked “for registered students” open in the student portal, which is set up as soon as you receive final acceptance.
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Course plan
  • Week 1: What is a computer system?
  • Week 2: Hardware: the parts of a computer
  • Week 3: Software: system and application software
  • Week 4: The CPU and the fetch-execute cycle
  • Week 5: Memory: RAM, ROM and cache
  • Week 6: What an operating system does
  • Week 7: Comparing operating systems
  • Midterm: Midterm evaluation
  • Week 9: Bits and bytes: units of storage
  • Week 10: Storing text: ASCII and Unicode
  • Week 11: Storing images: pixels and colour depth
  • Week 12: Storing sound: sampling
  • Week 13: Storage devices
  • Week 14: Choosing a computer for a job
  • Week 15: Review and coursework completion
  • Final: Final assessment and submission
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