Types of Personal Computer Application Software

 

Types of Personal Computer Application Software

Many types of application software are available. The more popular application software includes word processing software, electronic spreadsheet software, database software, presentation graphics software, communications software, and electronic mail software. Knowing the function of each type of application software is one of the most important ingredients of being computer literate.

APPLICATION SOFTWARES EXAMPLES 

Several years ago, a survey of large and small businesses showed that the most often used applications were:

• Word processing and spreadsheet (used by 100% of those surveyed)
• Communications, electronic mail, database, and presentation graphics (used by about 95%)
• Desktop publishing (used by about 85%)
• Project management (used by about 70%)
• Personal information management (used by about 50%)

In word processing, any work developed through the writing process is a document. Word processing software makes it easier to create, edit, format, and print documents. Many word processing packages include a spell checker, grammar checker, and thesaurus.

The first spreadsheet software, VisiCalc, was introduced in 1979. By immediately displaying the results of changes, electronic spreadsheet packages provide a capability called what-if analysis. Another powerful capability, called goal-seek, finds what value is needed to reach a specified goal.

A database file is a collection of related data called records, each of which consists of a group of related facts called fields. The data can be manipulated, or a report, called a query, can be created based on user-specified criteria. Although most spreadsheet packages can manage data tables of a few thousand records, database software can efficiently handle much larger data tables.

Word processing and spreadsheet software came out around 1980. Presentation graphics software was not introduced until the mid to late 1980s. Nevertheless, it can be argued that presentation graphics software has had almost as great an impact on business, and on how people do business, as either of the older applications. Presentation graphics packages include libraries of clip art that can be inserted into slides and a slide sorter that can be used to organize the order effectively in which slides are presented.