| Section: |
As you remember from last time, a computer is considered a universal information manipulator. It is universal because it can do many different kinds of things, depending on which instructions are stored in memory. This list of instructions is called a program. Programs are also referred to as software. So far, we have been pretty theoretical about how computers work, but we know that besides the software, they do have a physical entity. The physical pieces you can see are referred to as hardware. A computer system is a combination of both hardware and software.
You are already familiar with the term hardware, as in the hardware store. Hardware, in a more general sense, refers to anything with a physical prescense. Any part of a computer system that can be physically touched and handled (even if you might never actually touch it) is considered hardware. Most of the machines we are used to are mainly hardware. A CD player is hardware, as is the CD. All the stuff in the ad above was hardware.
One of the things that makes computers so unique is their ability to deal with software. Software is the more esoteric stuff that computers work with. Software is the information and instructions that give computers the 'universal' feel. You have dealt with something like software, even if you have not used a computer very much. Think of this example:
Denise goes shopping for a music CD. She sees a CD she really wants to buy. It costs 4.00. A friend has told her that it only costs a couple of dollars to create a CD. She wonders why some CDs are more expensive than others. All CDs are physically pretty much the same.
Of course, Denise does know why the CD she wants is more expensive. All the disks cost pretty much the same to manufacture, and they are physically very similar. The only relevant difference between the 17.99 one is the CONTENTS of the disk. The music on the disk is not something tangible. She cannot touch it or see it, but she knows that it is there, and she is willing to pay for it. The real value she is searching for is not the mylar and plastic, but the INFORMATION that the physical entity stores. Information and instructions are software. They are what give the computer such power. Hardware is the physical stuff that makes software possible.
Just for your information, there is something called firmware. As you may have guessed, it is somewhere between hardware and software. (mayonnaise consistency?) It really doesn't come up that often, but it does exist.