What are the Difference Between Hardware and Software?

What is the Difference Between Hardware and Software?

Hardware and software are the two components of a computer system. The actual and visible components of the system, such as the monitor, CPU, keyboard, and mouse, are referred to as hardware. Software, on the other hand, is a set of instructions that allows the hardware to complete a set of tasks. Both are intertwined, but they are also distinct from one another. The difference between computer hardware and software is an important topic in the GATE CSE syllabus. In the table given below, the difference between hardware and software is based on dependency, digital transfer, virus impact, etc.

Key Difference Between Hardware and Software

Hardware	Software
The physical component of the computer is hardware.	Software is the program that is executed by the CPU.
Hardware can be touched.	The software cannot be touched.
Hardware cannot perform any task without software.	The software cannot perform any task without hardware.
Hardware is not affected by computer viruses.	Software is affected by computer viruses.
We cannot make a duplicate copy of the hardware.	We can make a duplicate copy of the software.
We cannot transfer hardware electronically.	We can transfer software electronically.
The hardware is made of electronic and metal components.	The software is made of a programming language.
Examples: monitors, CPU, keyboard, etc.	Examples: Operating system, M.S. Office, Google Chrome, etc.

What is Hardware?

After knowing the difference between hardware and software, let us first discuss hardware. All the physical parts of the computer system or everything that we touch on the computer system is known as hardware. As we know, computer hardware consists of different parts. We can see only those parts of the hardware that are outsides, that is monitor, keyboard, etc.

But some parts of hardware are inside the CPU. We can see them when we open the body of the CPU box, that is hard disk, motherboard, etc. The hardware is further divided into four categories that are as follows:

• Input Devices
• Output Devices
• Secondary Storage Devices
• Internal Components

What is Software?

After knowing the difference between hardware and software, let us discuss more software. Software is the collection of data or a set of instructions that are used to operate computer hardware and execute a specific task.

It is that part of the computer system that cannot be touched. Software tells a computer what to do and how to do it. The software is divided into three categories that are:

• Application software
• System software
• Utility software

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