computers

Peripheral Devices

A peripheral device is generally defined as any auxiliary device such as a computer mouse or keyboard that connects to and works with the computer in some way. Other examples of peripherals are image scanners, tape drives, microphones, loudspeakers, webcams, and digital cameras.

Main Memory

Any data or instructions that are to be processed by the CPU must be placed into main memory (sometimes known as primary storage).

The Difference between Hardware and Software

Computer hardware is the physical components that make up the computer system. Hardware is useless without software to run on it.Software is instructions that tell computer hardware what to do. Software is useless unless there is hardware to run it on. For a computer system to be useful it has to consist of both hardware and software.

What Are Input Devices?

Devices that pass data into the computer are known as input devices. A keyboard, a mouse and a webcam are all examples of input devices.

What Are Output Devices?

Devices that take data from the computer are known as output devices. A monitor, a printer and a loudspeaker are all examples of output devices.

What is Hardware?

Hardware is the physical parts of the computer system -the parts that you can touch and see. A motherboard, a CPU, a keyboard and a monitor are all items of hardware.

What is Software?

Software is a collection of instructions that can be 'run' on a computer. These instructions tell the computer what to do. Software is not a physical thing (but it can of course be stored on a physical medium such as a CD-ROM), it is just a bunch of codes. An operating system such as Windows XP or Mac OS X, applications such as

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

the part of a computer in which operations are controlled and executed.