Application Software

General-Purpose Application Programs

General-purpose applications packages are programs that perform common information processing hobs for end users. For example, word processing programs, electronic spreadsheet programs, database management programs, graphics programs, communications programs, and integrated packages are popular with microcomputer users for home, education, business, scientific, and many other general purposes.They are also known as productivity packages, because they significantly increase the productivity of end users. This packaged software is also called off-the-shelf software packages, because these products are packaged and available for sale. Many features are common to most packaged programs.

Application-Specific Software

Many application programs are available to support specific applications of end users. Business Application Programs: Programs that accomplish the information processing tasks of important business functions or industry requirements.Scientific Application Programs: Programs that perform information processing tasks for the natural, physical, social, and behavioral sciences, engineering and all other areas involved in scientific research, experimentation, and development. There are so many other application areas such as education, music, art, medicine, etc.

Application Software Trends

The trend in computer application software is toward multipurpose, expert-assisted packages with natural language and graphical user interfaces. There are two major trends:
Off-The-Shelf Software Packages
There is a trend away from custom-designed one-of- a-kind programs developed by the professional programmers or end users of an organization.Instead, the trend is toward the use of the "off-the-self" software package acquired by end users from software vendors. This trend accelerated with the development of inexpensive and easy-to-use productivity software packages for microcomputers, and it continues to grow.
Nonprocedural, Natural Languages
There is a major trend away from technical, machine-specific programming languages using binary-based or symbolic codes and from procedural languages, which use English-like statements and mathematical expressions to specify the sequence of instructions a computer must perform.Instead, the trend is toward nonprocedural, natural languages that are closer to human conversation. This trend has accelerated with the creation of easy-to-use, nonprocedural fourth- generation languages (4GL). It continues to grow as developments in graphics and artificial intelligence produce natural language and graphical interfaces that make software packages easier to use.