Concept of Hardware &
Software
Hardware
The term hardware refers to mechanical device that makes up
computer. Computer hardware consists of interconnected
electronic devices that we can use to control computer’s
operation, input and output. Examples of hardware are CPU,
keyboard, mouse, hard disk, etc.
Hardware Component
Computer hardware is a collection of several several
components working together. Some parts are essential and
others are added advantages. Computer hardware is made up
of CPU and peripherals as shown in image below.
Software
Software refers to set of programs that instruct hardware
what to do and how to do.
It comprises of instructions and data to be processed using
computer hardware.
Each software is written for some computational purpose.
Softwares are intangible.
Need of Softwares
Software acts as an interface between user and hardware.
It makes computer hardware operational and useful.
Types of Software
Software can be broadly classified in three categories:
System Software
Application Software
Programming Tools
System Software
It manages computer system by interacting directly with
its constituent hardware.
It helps in providing various services to user and resources
to other softwares.
System Software
Following are different types of System software:
Operating System
System Utilities (Utility Software)
Device Drivers
Operating System
The software that acts as an interface between user and
computer hardware.
It is a System Software.
Every computer system must have at least one operating
system installed.
Windows, Linux, Solaris, MAC OS, Ubuntu, MS DOS are some
of the examples of Operating System.
It helps in performing the core functionalities like accepting
input from various input devices, directing the output to
the display, managing the files and directories,
communicating with hardware, and installing /uninstalling
of peripheral devices.
System Utilities
System Utilities are Softwares used to maintain computer
systems to work more smoothly, efficiently and effectively.
It helps in improving the performance of computer
It helps in providing security from virus
It helps in managing and freeing disk space and providing
data backups
Disk defragmentation, formatting, system restore are
some utilities inbuilt in Operating System.
Device Driver
Device Drivers are programs that help functioning a
hardware device with computer system
It acts as an interface between the device and operating
system.
Overall control, interpretation, operation and management
of a device at the hardware level is handled by device
driver.
Programming Tools
Programming tools refers to the tools used to write
instructions, converts high level to machine language and
develop softwares for computer system.
Following are the programming tools used
Programming languages
Language translators
Program development tools
Programming Languages
Programming languages are used to write instructions
which are applied by computer system to get desire
results.
Programming languages are developed to simplify coding
for computers.
Programming language can be classified in two categories:
Low level language
High level language
Low Level Language
These are machine dependent language that includes:
Machine language
Assembly language
Machine language
It uses binary code i.e. 0s and 1s to write instructions for
computer system.
It is directly understood by computer system and hence no
intermediate software is required to execute them.
It is difficult to use machine language as one has to
remember all operational codes and machine addresses.
It is difficult to find errors in the code written in machine
language
Assembly language
Assembly language uses English like words to write
instructions for computer system.
It is platform dependent means code written for a
particular CPU cannot be used for another CPU.
High Level Language
High level languages uses English like words using its own
grammar (set of rules) to write instructions.
It is platform independent and simple to write code.
Translators (compilers) are needed to translate high level
language into machine language.
Examples: C++, Java, Python, C# etc.
Language Translators
Language translators are used to convert instructions
written in assembly or high level language to machine
language.
The code converted into machine language is called object
code.
Different translators for different languages are used for
conversion.
There are three types of language translators:
Assembler
Compiler
Interpreter
Assembler
The translator used to convert the code written in assembly
language to machine language is called assembler.
Each assembler can understand a specific microprocessor
instruction set only and hence, the machine code is not
portable.
Compiler
Compiler converts source code written in high level
language into machine code.
If the code does not follow all syntactic rules of the
language, compiler generates error.
Once source code is translated successfully, the compiler
is not needed further.
Interpreter
Interpreter converts source code written in high level
language into machine code line by line.
Interpreter is always needed whenever a source code is to
be executed.
Program Development Tools
Program development tools are also referred as Integrated
Development Environment which provides all resources
needed for software development. It consist of:
Text editor
Debugger
Compiler
GUI Editor etc.
Examples: Python IDLE, Netbeans, Eclipse, Visual Studio, Atom
Application Software
Software which is developed for a particular type of
application such as drawing, presentation,
documentation, calculation etc,
It is used by user to accomplish their task.
It always runs on the top of the system software.
There are two main categories of application software:
General purpose software
Customized software
Application Software
General purpose software
These are application software designed for generic
applications such as Spreadsheets, Photoshop, and
Chrome etc.
These are developed to meet the requirement of mass
users in mind without any geographical barrier.
Customized software
These are application software designed to meet the
requirement of individual or organization.
Examples: school management software, hospital
management, inventory management, payroll etc.
