6.1 hardware and software

hardware

physical components of a computer system, both internal (e.x. hard drive, CPU) and external (e.x. keyboard, speaker)

software

programs on a computer system

application software

software which completes a specific task for the user

e.x. word processors, web browsers, video games

system software

software which operates, controls and maintains the computer and its components

e.x. operating system, utility software, library programs, translators

operating system

hides complexities of hardware, allowing the user to operate the computer without needing specialist knowledge

manages programs’ access to hardware resources such as CPU cores, RAM and I/O devices, and handles interrupts

utility programs

complete “housekeeping tasks” on the computer system such as:

-backing up data

-compressing data

-encrypting data

-defragmenting disks (organising the data to improve speed of access, e.x. by storing all data for one file together rather than in chunks scattered across the disk)

library programs

contain functions that are frequently imported in programs, such as the time or random modules in python

translators

software that translates between different languages, there are three types: compilers, assemblers and interpreters