What is the difference between hardware and software?

In: Computer Terminology

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Answer

There are several differences between computer hardware and software. However, the fundamental difference between hardware and software is that hardware is a physical device something that you're able to touch and see. For example, the computer monitor you're viewing this text on or the mouse you're using to navigate is considered computer hardware.

Software is code and instructions that tell a computer and/or hardware how to operate. This code can be viewed and executed using a computer or other hardware device. However, without any hardware software would not exist. An examples of software is Microsoft Windows, an operating system that allows you to control your computer and other programs that run on it. Another example of software is the Internet browser you're using to view this page.

Answer

Hardware is the actual components that your computer is made of: ram, rom, motherboard, modem, wireless chip etc. Software is any program that you load onto a computer: the operating system (Windows, Lynix) games or applications.

First answer by Ranger22. Last edit by ID1072690787. Question popularity: 9 [recommend question]

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