Program Vs Software – Blog

Many people equate the term software with computer programs. 

What are Programs?

Programs are developed by individuals for their personal use. They are generally, small and have limited functionality.

1. The author of a program himself uses and maintains his program.
2. These usually do not have a good user interface and lack proper documentation.
3. A program consists of a set of instructions which is a combination of source code and object code.
4. Any program is a subset of software, and it becomes software only if documentation and operating procedure manuals are prepared.

Documentation consists of various varieties of manuals as shown below:

Operating procedures consist of instructions to set up and use the system and instructions on how to meet the system failure.

What are Software Products?

Software products have multiple users and therefore should have a good user interface, proper operating procedures, and good documentation support.

1. Since a Software product has a large no of users, it must be properly designed, carefully implemented and properly tested. 
2. Generally software products are too large, and they cannot be developed by a single programmer. Therefore, Software products are developed by a group of software engineers.
3. Software Engineers are concerned with developing a software product, whereas programmers are concerned with writing programs.
4. Development of the software product requires a well-defined and systematic methodology, without which a software development team would not be able to produce an appropriate software product.

Program and Software