THREE (3) C ATEGORIES
OF COMPUTER:
1. HARDWARE - the physical,
touchable, electronic and
mechanical parts of a
computer system.
Categories of a Hardware:
a. Input Devices - Accepts data
and instructions from the user or
from another computer system.
Examples of Input Devices:
a. Mouse
b. Keyboard
c. joystick
d. barcode reader
e. scanner
f. microphone
g. touchpad
h. digitizer tablet
b. Output Devices - Any piece of
computer hardware that displays
results after the computer has
processed the input data that has
been entered.
Examples of Output Devices:
a. Printer
b. Monitor
c. Projector
d. Plotter
e. Smartboard
f. Speaker
c. Storage Devices is any
hardware device capable of
holding information.
Examples of Storage
Devices:
a. Floppy disk
b. Flash drive
c. Compact Disc (CD)
d. Digital Versatile Disk
(DVD)
e. Hard Disk Drive
f. Memory Card
g. Random Access Memory
(RAM)
h. Magnetic Tape
2. SOFTWARE - is the set of
instructions (also called a
program) that guides the
hardware to operate
effectively.
Examples of Application Software:
a. Word processing software - Creates,
edits, saves, and prints documents.
Example: MS Word, WordPerfect, Ami
Pro, MacWrite.
b. Spreadsheet software - An electronic
spreadsheet consisting of rows and
columns is used to present and analyze
data. Example: MS Excel, Lotus 123,
Quattro Pro.
c. Database management software -
Used to structure a database, a
large collection of computer
programs. Data is organized as
fields and records for easy retrieval.
Example: MS Access, dBase, Fox
Pro, Oracle.
d. Graphic software - Graphics
programs display results of data
manipulation for easier analysis and
presentation. Example: Macromedia
Flash, Harvard Graphics, 3D Studio
Max, Adobe Photoshop.
3. PEOPLE WARE OR USER -
Refers to people involved in
the data processing
operations such as the system
administrator, office workers,
students and others.