Difference Between Program and Software

S.N.

Basic Term

Software

Program

1.

Definition

Software is a set of Programs used to execute for an entire application.
There are Many programs combine together to form software. it is also used to perform a task.

Program is a set of Instructions written in a programming language used to execute for a specific task or particular function.

2.

Size

Goes to Mb / Gb

Goes to Kb / Mb

3.

Documentations

All Documentations

No Documentations only Comments

4.

Developer

Experiment person , well trained

For beginner person

5.

Development Approach

Systematic, organized, planned

Unplanned, not Systematic, un-organized

6.

Who Use

Public, Buyer, Large or vast number of users

Only developer

7.

Software development life cycle

Yes Needed SDLC

No Need SDLC

8.

Functionality

GUI , INPUT / OUTPUT DATA , PROCESS , Result Lots of Features and Option

Limited functionality and less features

9.

Categories

application software and system software

No Categories It

10.

Compiled Operation

Not need Compiled ,a whole software is compiled, tested and debugged in the development process.

A program is compiled every time when we need to generate some output from it.

11.

Time Taken to Make

1-2years or more

5min – 1day

12.

Programming Languages

consists of bundles of programs and data files. Programs in a specific software use these data files to perform a dedicated type of tasks.

set of instructions which are coded in a programming language like C, C++, PHP, Java etc.

13.

Dependent

Dependent on operating System

Dependent on Compiler

14.

Graphical User Interface

Most of Software are Having GUI its included Buttons ,Option, process bars.

Dependent on Programming Language Its GUI (VB,JAVA, PHP, python )or Command Line C, CPP, Java, vb, python

15.

Examples of

Application software are: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Google Chrome, VLC media player, Firefox, Adobe Reader etc.
System Software are: Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac etc.