Introduction to Computer Application
1)Hardware – any physical device or equipment used in or with a computer system.
i) External hardware devices – any hardware device that is located outside the computer.It has
input and output.
Input device - a piece of hardware device which is used to enter information to a computer for
processing e.g keyboard
Output device – a piece of hardware device that receives information from a computer e.g monitor
ii)Internal hardware devices – any piece of hardware device that is located inside the computer e.g
CPU.
2)Software – it is designed to run a computer’s hardware and application software, and make the
computer system available for use.It has main typeas of system;
i)Operating system – a software that controls and coordinates the computer hardware devices and
runs other software and applications on a computer.
ii)Device driver – a software program that is designed to control a particular hardware device that is
attached to a computer.
iii)Utility software – a type of system software that helps set up, analyze, configure, strengthen,
maintain a computer and performs a very specific task.
Computer hardware
Computer hardware refers to the physical components of a computer that can be seen and touched.
Functional components of the computer.
CPU
Input devices
Memory
Secondary storage
Output devices
Computer Software
Computer software refers to the set of instructions executed by a computer.
Major categories of computer software are:
 System software
o Software that controls and manages the resources and operations of the
computer
o Examples:
 Operating system software, and
 Utility software
 Application software
o Refers to software that does a specific task/solves specific problems for a
user.
o These includes: MS Word, MS Powerpoint, Payroll software, etc