How computers work: Hardware and software
Lesson Objective
In this lesson you will learn how computers work on the bit level. You will also learn the various different hardware and software components along with their roles and purpose. Some of the topics in this lesson may already be known to you.
Introduction
You may already be familiar with what computers and computer programs are, however let us do a quick recap of some important definitions and topics.
💭 What is a computer?
A computer is an electronic machine that processes information—in other words, an information processor: it takes in raw information (or data) at one end, stores it until it's ready to work on it. After working on data it spits out the results at the other end. All these processes have a name.
- Taking in information is called input
- Storing information is better known as memory (or storage)
- Working on information is also known as processing
- Spitting out results is called output
🎥 Watch the following video on "How Computers work : Hardware vs Software" to gain more insight on what we will be discussing further in this lesson.
Follow-up question
Q: What is the simplest form of code on a computer that controls all hardware?
A. Python
B. High-level language
C. Binary
D. C++
Check the solution!
Solution: The answer is option C.
Hardware and Software
Observe the following image. What does it tell you?
Computers are essentially divided into Hardware and Software that makes it run efficiently and smoothly.
💭 Take a minute to think about it. How would you define hardware and software?
Hardware is everything that we see inside(or outside, like mouse and keyboard) of a computer with our eyes, like circuits, chips, wires, etc. fall under hardware.
Software is the set of computer programs that execute a certain function. It can be a line of code, an application, a website, and a lot more. It does not have a physical existence.
Primary functions of hardware and software
A computer uses hardware and software to execute tasks assigned. The primary thing that manages the tasks in a computer hardware is the CPU or Central Processing Unit.
- It has smaller components/circuits within it which are dedicated to smaller and more exact tasks(like executing a particular mathematical equation within a set of mathematical equations).
- It also sends and receives information from different parts of the computer.
One can imagine CPU as a manager of an organisation, who knows what task can or should be given to which employee.
- Every command or information comes in the form of binary numbers to the CPU. Binary numbers consist of 2 numbers(0 and 1), unlike decimal numbers(0 to 9).
- Binary code/information is the most basic piece of software that controls all the hardware associated with it.
- Actually, the 0s and 1s are translated into lower and higher voltages respectively.
It is done because a machine can understand and react to 2 different voltages.
The following table shows decimal numbers (in computer science lingo, decimal numbers are any numbers with the base 10) and their respective binary representations.
Although the computer can understand information and data in binary form, we don’t write any code using 0s and 1s. This is because the time required to write or debug a binary code will be very difficult and time consuming. In fact, we use high-level programming languages like Python, Java and C++ to write a readable piece of code, since they somewhat resemble English(the language with which we are used to).
Just like computer hardware uses CPU to manage all tasks, computer software also uses something known as Operating System to manage all tasks. Operating System manages how different softwares get to use the hardware of the computer.
Operating system does the following tasks
control other softwares
download applications
grant permissions to softwares(to access input and output devices)
execute other operations.
Whenever we switch from one application to another in our computer, the operating system facilitates that.
Check-point Assessment
Q1. The collection of wires, circuits, chips, etc. inside a computer is often referred to as _.
A. Hardware
B. Software
C. Both of these
D. None of the above
Check the solution!
Ans : A. Hardware
Q2. _ manages the operations in computer hardware.
A. RAM - Random access memory
B. CPU - Central processing unit
C. ROM - Read only memory
D. OS - Operating system
Check the solution!
Ans : B. CPU - Central processing unit.
More on Hardware and software
🎥 Watch the following video on Computer Basics: Hardware vs Software and answer the following question.
Follow-up question
Q. The camera at the back of a mobile phone is the _ whereas, the button of the screen required to click a photo is the _.
A. hardware, software
B. software, hardware
C. software, software
D. hardware, hardware
Check the solution!
Answer: A) hardware, software
Hardware and software are very different from each other, but they need each other to function properly. Like typing a mail would require you to use both your keyboard/keypad and the mail application (e.g. gmail) itself.
Thus, the hardware needs software to tell it what to do, and the software also needs hardware to get directions and information from the user.
Types of hardware
Here are some more details on the types of hardware of a computer.
Follow-up Question
Q1: Match the parts by watching this video
Q2: What is the central circuitry board in the system unit?
A. CPU
B. Memory
C. Motherboard
D. None of the above
Check the solution!
Ans: C)Motherboard
Let’s get to know about the types of hardware.
Computer hardware is divided into two categories -
Internal
External
Internal hardwares are found inside the computer system. Motherboard is the central circuit board found inside the system unit(CPU case) of the computer. All other hardware components such as RAM, ROM memory like hard drives and SSD, power supply, graphics card, sound card, expansion cards, processor(CPU chip). The CPU(chip) is the brain of the computer hardware, about which we have mentioned earlier. Sound card helps to generate audio, and also helps an user to use a microphone with the computer. Expansion cards are network cards, bluetooth cards, etc. to expand the computer’s functionality.
External hardware components are also called peripherals. It consists of mouse, keyboard, monitor, microphone, earphones, etc.
External peripherals can also be divided into three categories -
1. Input
Input devices are those devices, which helps the computer hardware to get information and directions from the user for the software. It includes keyboard, mouse, microphone, webcam, etc.
2. Output
Output devices show information and data to the user. It includes monitor, earphones, printer, etc.
3. Storage
Storage devices are those external devices which store data. Pendrive, hard drives, memory card, SSD are examples of storage devices. Every storage device has its own storage capacity.
Check-point Assessment
Q1. External hardware of a computer can be classified into _ categories.
A. 1
B. 2
C. 3
D. 4
Check the solution!
Ans : C) 3
🎥 In the next lesson we will explore more on the Software side of the Computer. So through this video let’s get introduced to the hardware first.
Follow-up question
Q1 : _ is the name of Computer Architecture used for hardware?
Check the solution!
Von Neumann Architecture
What next?
It's the types of software and we will learn them in the next few lessons!
Until then,
Source: Giphy