ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Software systems

Okay, kiddo, imagine you have a toy box with lots of different toys inside. You could have a toy car, a puzzle, a doll, and lots of other toys. Just like your toy box, a software system is made up of lots of different parts that work together to do things on a computer.

One part of a software system might be like the wheels and engine of a toy car. This is called the "backend" of the software system. It's where all the important stuff happens, like calculating which routes to take when you're using a maps app or storing your password when you log into a website.

Another part of a software system might be like the body of a toy car or the face of a doll. This is called the "frontend" of the software system. It's what you actually see and interact with on your computer screen. This could be the buttons you click on a website or the icons you tap on a phone app.

All of the different parts of a software system need to work together to make it do what it's supposed to do, just like all the different toys in your toy box need to be played with in the right way for you to have fun with them. If one part of a software system isn't working correctly, it can cause problems for the whole system, just like if one toy in your toy box is broken, it might make it hard to play with the others.

So in short, a software system is like a toy box full of different parts that work together to make a computer program do cool things.