THE COMPUTER WARES

THE COMPUTER HARDWARE

This is the physical parts of any computer. The hardware constitutes of the parts of a computer that can be felt, carry and transferred from one place to another. There can never be the soft without the hard. That is, the soft without the hard is no ware.

 

THE COMPUTER SOFTWARE

This is set of instruction given to the computer in order to perform a specific task or solve a particular problem. It is also known as program. The term software is applied to the programs, which must be placed in the hardware before the hardware/software combination can do useful work. Therefore without the software the computer is a dummy.

 

TYPES OF SOFTWARE

There are two types of software namely: system software and application software.

 

SYSTEM SOFTWARE

They are instructions written by computer manufacturers to control the operations of the computer system. They are programs that contribute to the control and performance of the computer system. Examples of system software include operating system, translator, data base management system and utility programs.

 

APPLICATION SOFTWARE

These are programs normally written by programmers/computer user within an organization which enable the computer to produce useful result. E.g. inventory control, attendance accounting, student records, etc.

 

TYPES OF APPLICATION SOFTWARE

Application software is grouped into two main software namely: User application programs and Application packages.

 

USER APPLICATION PROGRAMS

These are programs written by the user in order to perform specific job for the user. Such programs are written in variety of programming languages according to circumstance but must be written in a systematic way so as to produce desired result.

 

APPLICATION PACKAGES

Also called software packages are already written programs or suite of programs for a particular application area, which must conform to internationally accepted rules. E.g. Word processing packages (MS word, Word perfect, PageMaker), Graphic design packages (Symphony, Fantasy, Harvard graphics), Spread Sheet packages (MS Excel, Quattro Pro), etc.

 

THE HUMANWARE

Like we all know that computer is automatic (but under the supervision of human), it need human to activate (initialize) it before the combination of hardware/software can execute any job (work). Human-ware (also known as people-ware) doesn’t include those that can not operate computer. Human-ware includes programmer, operator, etc. Anybody that can guide computer to perform (execute) task is a human-ware.

 

The computer is made of two wares (which are hardware and software). But for a computer to carry out any operation, three wares are needed which include the above mentioned two and the human-ware. Come to think of it, this machine work on data and these data will be fed via its’ input device into the computer. People-ware is those responsible for inputting data. Without the human-ware the computer set is more like an artwork (decoration)