A computer is an electronic device used to process data, converting it into information that is useful to people. A complete computer system includes
1. Hardware
2. Software (Software: Bringing The Machine To Life)
3. Data
Hardware
Hardware consists of electronic devices, the parts you can see and you can touch.
Ex: Keyboard, Monitor, Hard disk, Tape, Floppy drive, Video camera, Microphone, Mouse, Scanners, Printers, CD ROM
Software
Software, also known as programs, consists of organized sets of instructions for controlling the computer.or Sequence of instructions or commands that tells the Computer to do specific task is called software. (Sets of interrelated instruction)
Programs are electronic instructions that tell the computer how to accomplish certain tasks. . When a computer is using a particular program, it is said to be running or executing the program. The Operating system tells the computer how to interact with the user and how to use the hardware devices attached to the computer.
Operating Systems
Operating Systems are the most important programs that run on a computer. Every general-purpose computer must have an operating system to run other programs. Operating systems perform basic tasks, such as recognizing input from the keyboard, sending output to the display screen, keeping track of files and directories on the disk, and controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives and printers.
Ex: MS Windows 3.1, MS Windows 95, MS Windows NT 4.0, MS Windows 98, Ms Wndows 2000, MS Windows ME, MS Windows XP, MS Windows 2003, Red Hat Linux 8.0, Red Hat Linux 9.0, Unix, Mac OS, Solaris, Lindows, MS DOS
Application software
Application software tells the computer how to accomplish tasks the user requires. Some important kinds of application software are word processing programs, spreadsheets, database management software, presentation programs, graphics programs, multimedia authoring applications, entertainment and education software, Web design tools and Web browsers, Internet applications, utilities, and networking and communications software.
Data
Data consists of text, numbers, symbols, sounds, and images that the computer can manipulate.
Users
All the persons (users) that use the computer can be considered as Liveware.
EX: Programmers, Graphic Designer, Data entry operator, Hardware technician, Network engineer, Data base Administrator, Web Designer, System Analyzer
