A computer which is a machine that takes in information (called data) and process it in some may, has two important parts of it that help it to do its work. They are computers software and computer hardware.
A hardware is an intangible part of computer which can touch, see etc. it can also made of the secondary storage device such as disk, tapes CD-ROM etc where the database resides. All the computers consists of hardware. It forms the core of a personal computer (PC) hierarchy. Which out the hardware, the computer does not exist. The hardware includes all the circuits, expansion boards, power supplies, peripheral devices, and their interconnecting wiring or cable.
This extends not only should a personal computer (PC) but also to monitors, keyboards pointing devices, printers, and so on. Any physical aspect of the personal computer (PC) is regarded as hardware.
The Three Basic Operations
The whole point of computer hardware is to make possible three basic operations input, processing and output. The instructions and information that the computer need are put into the computer, by way to put hardware.
Once the instructions and information are in the computer, it must have processing and storage hardware to perform its work, it must have an output. This allows it to display its work in some way that human can understand and use. All computer system must include hardware to do this three operations but different computers have different kinds of hardware to input, process and store and output information.
Software And It’s Various Types
Software is a collection of computer programs and related data that provides the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it. In other words, software is a conceptual entity which is a set of computer programs, procedures, an associated documentation concerned with the operation of a data processing system. We can also say software refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of computer for some purposes. In other words software is a set of programs, procedures, algorithms and it’s documentation.
Program software performs the function of the program its implements, either by directly providing instructions to the computer hardware or by serving as input to another piece of software. The term was coined to contrast to the old term hardware (meaning physical devices). In contrast to hardware, software is intangible it cannot be touched”.
Software is also sometimes used in a monaro sense, meaning application software only. Sometimes the term includes data that has not traditionally been associated with computers, such as film, tapes and records.
Examples of Computer Software Include
- Application Software, also known as an application or an “app”, is Computer Software designed to help the user to perform singular or multiple related specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, and graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with documents. Application software is contracted with system software and middleware, which manage an integrates a computer’s capabilities, but typically do not directly apply them in the performance to tasks that benefits the user. Similar relationships apply in order fields. For example, a shopping mall does not provide the merchandise a shopper is seeking, but it provides space and services for retailers that serve the shopper. A railway similarly serves trains, allowing the twins to transport passengers. Application software applies the power of a particular computing platform or system software to a particular purpose. Some apps such as Microsoft office are available in versions for several different platform; others have narrower requirements and are thus called, for example, a Windows application or an Android application.
- Middleware is computer software that connects software components or some people that their application. The software consists of a set of services that allows multiple processes running on or one or more machines to interact. This technology evolved to provide for interoperability in support to move to coherent distributed architectures, which are most often used to support in and simplify complex distributed applications. It includes web servers, application servers, I’m similar tools that support application development in delivery. Meadow is especially integral to modern information technology based on XML, SOAP, Web services, and service oriented architecture. Middleware sits “in the middle” between application software that may be working on different operating systems. It is similar to the middle layer of three-tier single system architecture, except that it is stretched across multiple systems or applications. Examples include EAI software, telecommunications softwares, transaction monitors, and messaging-and-queuing software. The distinction between operating system and middleware functionality is, to some extent, arbitrary. While core kernel functionality can only be provided by operating system itself, some functionality previously provided by separately sold middleware is now integrated in operating systems. A typical example is the TCP/IP stack for telecommunications, nowadays included in virtually every operating system. In simulation technology, middleware is generally used in the context of high level architecture (HLA) that’s applies to many distributed simulations. It is a layer of software that lies between the application code and the run-time infrastructure. Middle generally consists of a library of functions, and enables a number of applications simulations or federates HLA terminology to page this functions from the common library rather than to re-create them for each application.
- Programming language is an artificial language designed to express computations that can be performed by a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine, to express algorithms precisely, or as a mode of human communication. The earliest programming languages predate the invention of the computer, and we are used to direct the behavior of machines such as jacquard looms and player pianos. Thousands of different programming languages have been created, mainly in the computer field, with many more being created every year. Most programming languages described computation in an imperative style, i.e., as a sequence of commands, although some languages, such as those that support functional programming or logic programming, use alternative of description. A programming language is usually split into two components of syntax (form) and semantics (meaning) and many programming languages have some kind of written specification of their syntax and/or semantics. Some languages are defined by a specification document, for example, the C programming language is specified by an ISO standard, while other languages, such as Perl, have a dominant implementation that is used as a reference.
- System software is a computer software designed to operate the computer hardware and to provide a platform for running application software.
The Most Basic Types of System software are:
- The computer BIOS and device firmware, which provide basic functionality to operate and control the hardware connected to or built into the computer.
- The operating system (prominent examples being Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux), which allows the parts of a computer to work together by performing tasks like transferring data between memory and disks rendering output onto a display device. It also provides a platform to run high level system software and application software.