Hardware and Software

Introduction
This lecture introduces us to the different components of a computer system. It would help us to
understand how these components work together to execute the computer programs.

Objectives
Upon completion of this lecture, we will be able to:

Define computer hardware

Explain computer software
Identify the types of computer software

What is Computer Hardware?

Hardware in computer refers to the physical component that makes the computer system. The
boundary between hardware and software is very feeble. A typical computer has the following parts:

i. Mother board
ii. Power supply
iii. The secondary memory drive
iv. Controllers
v. I/O devices

These are the parts which we can observe physically.

What is Computer Software?

Computer Software is a general term for organized collections of computer data and instructions,
often broken into two major categories, system software that provides the basic non-task-specific
functions of the computer, and application software which is used by users to accomplish specific
tasks. A computer program guides a computer to perform some processing function or combination
of functions. For the instructions to be carried out, a computer must execute a program, that is, the
computer reads the program, and then follows the steps encoded in the program in exact order until
completion. A program can be executed in many different ways, with each execution yielding a
potentially different result depending upon the options and the data that the user gives to the
computer.

Types of Computer Software

Computer software is designed to do a variety of tasks including word processing, number
crunching, image and video editing, data storage, and home entertainment. There are three major
types of computer software:

1. System Software

System software is used to run the computer hardware. It includes mainly the operating system and
device drivers. System software refers to the files and programs that make up your computer's
operating system. System files include libraries of functions, system services, drivers for printers
and other hardware, system preferences, and other configuration files. The programs that are part
of the system software include assemblers, compilers, file management tools, system utilities, and
debuggers.

2. Programming Software

Programming software usually provides tools to assist a programmer in writing computer programs
and software using different programming languages. Computer programmers are accountable for
teaching computers how to perform tasks and solve computational problems. They develop the
software that runs on computers using special software called a compiler. A compiler is a computer
program that decodes text written in a computer language into another computer language.

A computer language is the language that computer understands and can interpret. There are two
main types of computer languages, the High level language and the Low level language or machine
language. Since the computer is a machine, it understands the machine language. Unfortunately,
the machine language is very difficult for human beings to understand, hence the need of a
compiler. Examples of computer languages include Pascal, Basic, Java, C# (C-Sharp), and C++.

3. Application Software

Application Software allows end users to accomplish one or more specific tasks. Typical
applications include industrial automation, business software, educational software, medical
software, databases, and computer games.

After installing the program, the program can then be used by loading it into the computer's
memory. Once the software is loaded, the computer is able to execute the software. Computers
operate by executing the computer program. This involves passing instructions from the application
software, through the system software, to the hardware which ultimately receives the instruction as
machine code. Each instruction causes the computer to carry out an operation which may include
moving data, carrying out a computation, or altering the control flow of instructions. A program
should be unloaded from memory after use to allow other programs to use the memory.

Summary
Here are the key takeaways:

Computer Hardware is the physical component that makes the computer system.

Computer Software is a general term for organized collections of computer data and
instructions.

Computer Software are often broken into three major categories, system software that
provides the basic non-task-specific functions of the computer, programming software that
usually provides tools to assist a programmer in writing computer programs and application
software which is used by users to accomplish specific tasks.