Computer Components (parts)

Now that the basic types of computers are out of the way lets move on to what makes up the computers. There are two main things which make computers run the way they do. These two things are: Hardware and Software. They may sound similar but they have very different purposes.

Hardware is the physical pieces of the computer. You can see, touch, and break it just like you can with any other piece of furnature in your house. Hardware is the components that work together to process, and interperate data into something usable by you. The typical hardware pieces that might be used in you computer will be dicussed later.

Software on the other hand is an abstract concept. Software is what tells your computer what to do: how to interperate user input, how to make hardware pieces work together, and how the computer should react when it encounters errors or choices. It is the "middleman" between human and machine interperating what you want the computer to do into something that the computer understands, so it can give you what you want. There are many classes of software now, but they all do only one thing. They all tell the computer what to do.