A History of Software Development

Table of Content

• What is Software? Explain the Types of Software with Examples.
• History of Software Development
• The Personal Computing Era
• The Mobile Device era
• Top Software Development Trends to Lookout in the Upcoming Decade
• Conclusion

In the field of Software development, we have seen it all. From ENIAC computers to smart devices. Technology has incredibly changed in the past few decades. Software development companies have made it possible for us to shift from operating systems and spreadsheets to mobile applications. Here in this blog, we are going to talk about the history of software development and how it has evolved with time.

What is Software? Explain the Types of Software with Examples.

Software is a type of program that enables the users to carry on specific tasks on their systems. It directs your computer system and makes it understand what to do and how to do it. Basically, software plays an important role as a mediator between the computer hardware and the user. Without software, the user cannot perform any task in the system. This is the reason why software development companies are at pick for the past few decades.

Types of Software

There are mainly two different types of software. They are System Software and Application Software. Here we will go through both these types with some examples.

1. System Software

System Software helps the users and hardware to function properly and work effectively with each other. The software manages the behavior of the computer system and enables it to provide all the functionalities. It sanctions a platform so that other software can easily work.

Whenever someone turns on the computer, the system software gets initialized first and then it gets loaded in the memory of the system. The system software runs in the background and is not utilized by the users. This is the reason that it is called low-level software.

a. Operating System

The best example of system software is something that handles resources and also provides services that can help the application to run over it. This is called an operating system. There are different types of OS available in the market. Some of them are real-time, multi-user, distributed, embedded, and more. The top operating systems are — macOS, MS Windows, Android, iOS, Linux, and more.

b. Firmware

Firmware is nothing but software that is permanently set in the memory of the system as read-only. It is system software that offers information about the working process and interactions of the device with other hardware devices. Some of the examples of Firmware are — Embedded Systems, UEFI, Computer Peripherals, and BIOS.

c. Device Drivers

Device drivers control the hardware which is attached to the computer system. Every hardware device you use has its own driver that connects to the system with ease. Some of these devices can be hard disks, keyboards, printers, sound cards, and more. Some of the examples of Device Drivers are — USB drivers, BIOS drivers, Display drivers, VGA drivers, and ROM drivers.

d. Utility

Utility software is designed to help in analyzing, optimizing, configuring, and maintaining the computer system. Computer infrastructure gets full support from utility software. Some of the examples of utility software are — McAfee Antivirus, WinZip, WinRAR, Directory Opus, and Razer Cortex.

2. Application Software

Application software is an end-user program. It helps the user to complete tasks such as calculations, gaming, online research, designing graphics, and more. It lies above the system software. This type of software is developed by a software development company.

a. Database Software

Database software enables the software developers to manage databases. It is known as the Database Management System. The examples of DBMS are FileMaker, dBase, MySQL, and MS Access.

b. Word Processors

Word processor applications are meant for writing, viewing, and sharing documents. You can format your document using it and can also print it. Some of the top word processors are Google Docs, MS Word, Corel WordPerfect, and Apple iWork-Pages.

c. Web Browsers

The custom software development company creates web browsers that help users to carry on their work on the internet. It helps the users in locating and retrieving data. Some of the best examples of web browsers are Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari, and more.

d. Multimedia Software

Multimedia software is something that allows the users to create, record, and play audio-video files. It is used to animate and edit images, videos, and audios. Some of the popular multimedia software applications are Picasa, VLC Media Player, Adobe Photoshop, and more.

History of Software Development

It all started with Tom Kilburn writing the world’s first software. He developed a computer known as Manchester Small Scale Experimental Machine. It was able to perform math calculations using the instructions given by code.

After that, computers were programmed by using punch cards. Later, the first high-level programming language was published in the year 1957. It was known as Fortran. In 1958, John Tukey, a statistician came up with the word “Software.” In the following next two decades, programming languages like BASIC, Cobol, C, and Pascal came to life.

The Personal Computing Era

Software development hit the big time in the 1970s and 1980s. The reason behind it was the arrival of personal computers. In 1977, Apple launched Apple II, the revolutionary personal computer. One by one many companies like IBM entered the IT world with their computers. At that time Times magazine announced the personal computer as the Man of the Year. With the arrival of personal computers, various software started coming into life. Some of them are Microsoft Excel, AutoCAD, and Microsoft Word.

After that, the software development world saw a major innovation with the arrival of Linux Kernel and Netscape Navigator Browser. Even the programming languages like C, C++, and Java came into the world and took the software development era to a next level.

The Mobile Device era

After personal computers, there came mobile phones. The first-ever mobile phone was created in 1973. Then in 1993, IBM came with the first smartphone. In 1999, RIM came with the Blackberry 850 device. Later in the year 2007, Apple revolutionized computing with the iPhone. From that day till now, the use of mobile phones has become enormous. And with it, the technology for creating mobile phones and applications is evolving day by day. In recent times, programming languages like Java and Swift are the most used languages by software development service providers.

Top Software Development Trends to Lookout in the Upcoming Decade

With the progress in the growth of technology, a lot of software development trends are coming into the picture. Some of these software development trends are -

1. Low-code Development
2. Artificial Intelligence
3. Internet of Things
4. Augmented Reality
5. Virtual Reality
6. Big Data
7. Cloud-based Solutions
8. Blockchain

Conclusion

With the increasing use of software in our daily life, new upgrades keep on coming in the software development world. From crockpots to nuclear submarines, the development of each and everything requires software. And this has made programming languages like C, C++, Java, Python, and Go popular amongst software developers. Still, giants like Google, Microsoft, and Apple keep on developing something new and innovative for the world.