Course Content
Module 4 – Computational Thinking
Module 5 – Data Literacy
[ENG] Digital Citizenship and Computational Thinking – Curriculum Team
About Lesson

SOFTWARE VS HARDWARE

When we’re learning about computers, it can help to think of hardware and software as the body and the mind of the device. 

What is hardware? 

Hardware is the body. It’s the real, physical, tangible stuff that we can see and touch. Input and output devices are hardware. Input devices such as microphones, keyboards, and webcams and output devices such as speakers, printers, and monitors are all hardware.

What is software? 

If hardware is the body, software is the mind. Software is pretty much invisible – it’s not a thing that you can hold. Instead, it’s a series of instructions that tells the hardware what to do. Examples of software are YouTube, Chrome, Telegram, Music, Word documents, etc. 

Example: Watching a YouTube video on your laptop

  • YouTube is software, and Laptop is hardware.