Scientists Say: Hardware and Software The difference between these two parts of technology is whether you can hold it in your hand

 

Scientists Say: Hardware and Software

The difference between these two parts of technology is whether you can hold it in your hand

By Maria Temming

Hardware (noun, “HARD-ware”) and Software (noun, “SOFT-ware”)

Hardware and software are two aspects of computing technology. Hardware refers to all the physical pieces of a computing device. A screen. A keyboard. A game controller. A printer. Speakers. Plus, all the microchips and memory devices hidden inside. Basically, if you can touch it, it’s hardware.

Software, meanwhile, refers to all the computer programs, or code, running on the machine. That code tells the hardware what to do and how to do it. Examples of software include phone apps, video games and web browsers. You can’t physically hold these things, but hardware can’t do useful tasks without them.  

 

In a sentence

Both hardware and software are continually updated, making devices better — but risking the loss of digital creations built on old technology.

Power Words

More About Power Words

app: Short for application, or a computer program designed for a specific task.

browser: (in computing) The software program or application that someone uses to find and retrieve information from Web pages on the internet.

code: (in computing) To use special language to write or revise a program that makes a computer do something. (n.) Code also refers to each of the particular parts of that programming that instructs a computer's operations.

computer program: A set of instructions that a computer uses to perform some analysis or computation. The writing of these instructions is known as computer programming.

microchip: A tiny wafer of semiconducting material (the chip), often silicon, which holds tiny electronic parts and the "wiring" needed to connect them to an electric circuit. Or a small computer chip that is implanted in goods or animals and acts like a tag. It holds information that can be retrieved as needed (such as an animal's name or the inventory lot for commercial products.

physical: (adj.) A term for things that exist in the real world, as opposed to in memories or the imagination. It can also refer to properties of materials that are due to their size and non-chemical interactions (such as when one block slams with force into another).

software: The mathematical instructions that direct a computer’s hardware, including its processor, to perform certain operations.

technology: The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry — or the devices, processes and systems that result from those efforts.

web: (in computing) An abbreviation of World Wide Web, it is a slang term for the internet.

CITATIONS

Website: GFC Global. Hardware and software.

About Maria Temming

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Maria Temming is the Assistant Managing Editor at Science News Explores. She has bachelor's degrees in physics and English, and a master's in science writing.