SOFTWARE
Computer instruction or data. Anything that can be stored electronically is software. The storage devices and display devices are hardware.
The terms software and hardware are used as both nouns and adjectives. For example, you can say: "The problem lies in the software," meaning that there is a problem with the program or data, not with the computer itself. You can also say: "It's a software problem."
The distinction between software and hardware is sometimes confusing because they are so integrally linked. Clearly, when you purchase a program, you are buying software. But to buy the software, you need to buy the disk (hardware) on which the software is recorded.
Software is often divided into two categories:
· System software : Includes the operating system and all the utilities that enable the computer to function.
· Application software : Includes programs that do real work for users. For example, word processors, spreadsheet, and database management system fall under the category of applications software.
HARDWARE
Refers to objects that you can actually touch, like disks, disk drives, display screens, keyboards, printers, boards, and chips. In contrast, software is untouchable. Software exists as ideas, concepts, and symbols, but it has no substance.
Books provide a useful analogy. The pages and the ink are the hardware, while the words, sentences, paragraphs, and the overall meaning are the software. A computer without software is like a book full of blank pages, you need software to make the computer useful just as you need words to make a book meaningful.
