Computer Hardware | What is Computer Hardware?

 

Computer Hardware:

                                                        Hardware are the physical components that make up a computer system. They include all electrical and mechanical devices attached to the computer for the purpose of input, process, storage and output operations.

Generally all hardware components are classified as follows.

a.       Input devices

b.      Output devices

c.       CPU

d.      Memory

a.     Input devices

                                                   Input devices are the external hardware components that are used to enter or accept data and instructions into computer memory for processing. Examples are: Keyboard, Mouse, Track ball, Joy stick, Touch Screen, Light pen, Scanner.

b.     Output devices

                                                     Output devices are used to give results of processing to the user. Examples are: Monitors, Printers, Plotters and Speakers.

Some types of hardware can act as both, input and output. These devices are called I/O devices. One example is the Touch screen, a type of monitor. Users can also touch and give input to the computer using a touch screen.

c.      CPU (Central Processing Unit)

                                                                                            It is the main hardware of every computer system. It consists of two parts i.e. the control unit (CU) and Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU). The CU is responsible for controlling the overall activities of the computer system while the ALU performs two types of operations i.e.  The Arithmetic operations such as addition, subtraction multiplication, division, etc. and Logical operations such as comparison like greater than, smaller than, equal to.

d.     Memory

                                   Computer memory is a semiconductor hardware device used to store data or programs for use in computers either on permanent or temporary basis. Data or program in computer is represented as binary code, written as a stream of 0s and 1s. Each binary digit (or “bit”) has bi-stable capability to represent 0 for OFF and 1 for ON. RAM and ROM are common examples of computer memory.