system software

[′sis·təm ′sȯft‚wer] (computer science) Computer software involved with data and program management, including operating systems, control programs, and database management systems.

system software

(operating system)Any software required to support theproduction or execution of application programs but which isnot specific to any particular application.

System software typically includes an operating system tocontrol the execution of other programs; user environmentsoftware such as a command-line interpreter, window system, desktop; development tools for building otherprograms such as assemblers, compilers, linkers,libraries, interpreters, cross-reference generators,version control, make; debugging, profiling andmonitoring tools; utility programs, e.g. for sorting,printing, and editting.

Different people would classify some or all of the above aspart of the operating system while others might say theoperating system was just the kernel. Some might say systemsoftware includes utility programs like sort.

system software

Software used to control the computer and develop and run applications. It includes programs such as operating systems, database managers, compilers, Web servers, router operating systems and control programs for other network devices. Contrast with application program.

The following diagram shows the flow between system software and application software residing in memory in a multiuser computer. The operating system (OS), TP monitor, database manager and interpreter are considered system software. The applications and interactive DBMS query and edit would be considered application software.

System Software and Application Interaction

This diagram shows the interaction between the system software and application software running in memory.