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By using general purpose software a user can fulfill his or her general needs By using special purpose software a user can fulfill his or her specific needs for which this special purpose software has been designed.
Special Purpose application software is very specific in its use. Engineering programs often fall under this category - there is a program that does slope stability analysis and nothing else, for instance. Special purpose software may also be created in house and tailored to the specific needs of the company. General purpose application software is much broader in use. Word processors for example, can handle every form of writing, aside from calligraphy. Spreadsheet programs like Excel handle a significant portion of data processing problems (with databases taking the rest). In general, special purpose software is intended to perform a very specific function, while general purpose software is intended to perform a broader class of functions.
Define and compare basic and specialized application software
A special purpose software is one which is specifically designed for a particular user. Example of general purpose software are like a bank account managing software .
A special purpose software is one which is specifically designed for a particular user. Example of general purpose software are like a bank account managing software .
Special purpose application software is called that because it targets or addresses a very narrow range of solutions to a problem. The advantage would be that it should solve that particular problem well, because it was designed just for that purpose. It wouldn't have any other features or overhead other than solving that one particular problem.
general purpose, as it can be programmed to perform any special purpose task.
Application software
System software is a software which provides a platform for running application software(s). examples of system software are Linkers, Loaders, Operating Systems,compilers,database systems and editors. Embedded software is a special type of software which are designed for special purpose (usually with negligible user interaction ) e.g.automobile software, software used in air conditioning system.
General purpose means it can be used for many things. Special purpose means only for a particular thing.
A general purpose application package is designed to be versatile and can be used for a wide range of tasks. On the other hand, a special purpose application package is designed with specific functionalities tailored for a particular task or industry. Special purpose packages tend to be more focused and optimized for specific use cases, while general purpose packages offer broader functionality.
There are either special-purpose or general purpose computers.