Software

Unfortunately I haven't given as much time to studying as I'd liked to have done lately, purely through a combination of my work commitments and spending quality time with my daughter. It has been nice to have a chance to reflect on everything I've been learning so far, however I'm glad to get back to it...

The fifth module in this course was to do with software and had the following objectives:

• To be able to install software on Windows and Linux
• To understand main components of software & how they work
• To describe how computers use instructions to process input and produce output
• To describe how a program breaks down into instructions for the CPU

I first began by learning how software is built by developers using coding, scripting and programming. I learnt that there are different types of software including application software, system software and firmware that each serve a different purpose. I also discovered that it is through the use of programming languages that software is able to run on any hardware.

Next I explored how a program translates a desired action into instructions that the CPU is able to understand. I learnt how interpreted language uses scripts to interpret the CPU instructions before sending them through a compiler, forming an assembly language in code that the computer can understand.

Finally, I was able to utilise Qwiklabs again, getting a chance to install, update and remove some software from both Windows and Linux operating systems. Overall, I feel like this module was very brief and although I met the learning objectives, I didn't actually learn too much.

On to the final module of the first course...troubleshooting!

Dave