Hardware refers to the physical components of a computer system like the CPU, RAM, and hard drives. Software includes programs like operating systems, browsers, and apps that allow interaction with hardware. Firmware is a type of software designed to act as an intermediary between hardware and software or for single-purpose devices like printers. It is updated infrequently and users have limited interaction with it. Examples of firmware include the BIOS and EFI.

1. Topic: Computer Hardware, Software and Firmware
CSE 317: Computer Networks
Submitted To
Pranab Bandu Nath
(Senior lecturer) CSE Department
City University, Dhaka
Submitted By
Mahadi Hasan Shihab
Id: 1834902615
Batch: 49th ,( B)

2. Computer Hardware, Software and Firmware
Hardware, software, and firmware are the three core components that make up present-day computers and
systems. Hardware includes the physical components of a computer system, which may wear out over time and
require replacement. Software includes sets of instructions that allow a variety of inputs from the user.
Firmware is a specific type (or subset) of software that is designed to act as the intermediary between the
software and hardware or for the operation of single-purpose embedded systems, such as printers or routers.
End users typically have limited interaction with firmware and it is modified infrequently. Examples of these
core components include:
• Hardware: Computer Processing Units (CPU), Random Access Memory (RAM), and Hard Drives
(HDD)
• Software: Internet browsers, operating systems (OS), and antivirus
• Firmware: Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) and Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI)
Hardware
Hardware Is Physical: It's "Real," Sometimes Breaks, and Eventually Wears Out
Hardware is "real stuff" that you can see with your eyes and touch with your fingers. And being a physical item,
you can also sometimes smell it as it dies a fiery death, or hear as it physically decays in its last motions.
Since hardware is part of the "real" world, it all eventually wears out. Being a physical thing, it's also possible to
break it, drown it, overheat it, and otherwise expose it to the elements.
Here are some examples of hardware:
• Smartphone
• Tablet
• Laptop
• Desktop computer
• Printer
• Flash drive
• Router

3. Software
Software Is Virtual: It Can Be Copied, Changed, and Destroyed
Software is everything about your computer that isn't hardware.
Here are some examples of software:
• Operating systems like Windows 10 or iOS
• Web browsers
• Antivirus tools
• Adobe Photoshop
• Mobile apps
Since software is information and not a physical thing, there are few barriers to it. For example, one physical
hard drive might take two pounds of materials to create, meaning 3,000 hard drives would take 6,000 lbs of
materials. One software program, on the other hand, can be duplicated 3,000 or 300,000 times, over as many
devices, but be taking up essentially no more physical resources.
Software interacts with you, the hardware you're using, and with hardware that exists elsewhere. A photo-
sharing software program, for example, on your PC or phone works with you and your hardware to take a photo
and then communicates with servers and other devices on the internet to show that photo on your friend's
devices.
Firmware
Firmware Is Virtual: It's Software Specifically Designed for a Piece of Hardware
While not as common a term as hardware or software, firmware is everywhere—on your smartphone, your PC's
motherboard, even your TV remote control.
Firmware is just a special kind of software that serves a very narrow purpose for a piece of hardware. While you
might install and uninstall software on your computer or smartphone on a regular basis, you might only rarely,
if ever, update the firmware on a device and you'd probably only do so if asked to by the manufacturer,
probably to fix a problem.

4. Software is a generic term for organized collections of computer data and instructions, often broken into two
major categories: system software that provides the basic non-task-specific functions of the computer, and
application software which is used by users to accomplish specific tasks.
In other words, software is a set of programs, procedures, algorithms and its documentation concerned with the
operation of a data processing system. Thus the software contains the instructions that tell a computer what to
do and how to do to solve a specific problem.
Computer Software
Types of Software
Software is generally classified into two groups – System software and Application software.
System Software
System software is responsible for controlling, integrating, and managing the individual hardware components
of a computer system so that other software and the users of the system see it as a functional unit without
having to be concerned with the low-level details such as transferring data from memory to disk, or rendering
text onto a display. Generally, system software consists of an operating system and some fundamental utilities

5. such as disk formatters, file managers, display managers, text editors, user authentication (login) and
management tools, and networking and device control software
Application Software
Application software, is used to accomplish specific tasks other than just running the computer system.
Application software may consist of a single program, such as an image viewer; a small collection of programs
(often called a software package) that work closely together to accomplish a task, such as a spreadsheet or text
processing system; a larger collection (often called a software suite) of related but independent programs and
packages that have a common user interface or shared data format, such as Microsoft Office, which consists of
closely integrated word processor, spreadsheet, database, etc.; or a software system, such as a database
management system, which is a collection of fundamental programs that may provide some service to a variety
of other independent applications.
Software is created with programming languages and related utilities, which may come in several of the above
forms: single programs like script interpreters, packages containing a compiler, linker, and other tools; and large
suites (often called Integrated Development Environments) that include editors, debuggers, and other tools for
multiple languages.
Device Driver
A driver is software and/or firmware that controls hardware. Often it connects an operating system with
specific hardware devices. For example, there are drivers for every card and disk in your computer. Each driver
is written for a specific operating system — for example Windows XP or Macintosh OS X. Therefore, to use a
card in your computer, you must use a driver that matches the device and also your operating system. Drivers
can be enhanced, for example, when new operating systems come out. Eventually hardware becomes so old it is
no longer economical or practical to produce new drivers for it.
Sometimes the words software, firmware and driver are used interchangably, so don't be thrown off if
somebody uses the word "software" when you expected to hear "driver", or vice versa.
Utility
A utility is software used for the limited purpose of changing the overall behavior of hardware or other
software. (For example configuring your browser to accept cookies.) Utilities tend to be used once or twice at
most. On a typical computer or router, there will be utilities users never touch at all. If a utility is not used,
default values are used, instead.