Computer Systems

5 components of a 'Computer System'

• Hardware: Peripherals + Network
• Software
• Human resources

Hardware

• Computer hardware refers to the physical parts of a computer and related devices
• Internal hardware devices include motherboards, hard drives, and RAM
• External hardware devices include monitors, keyboards, mice, printers, and scanners
• The internal hardware parts of a computer are often referred to as components, while external hardware devices are usually called peripherals

Peripherals

• A computer peripheral is any external device that provides input and output for the computer
• e.g., a keyboard and a mouse are input peripherals, while a monitor and a printer are output peripherals
• Computer peripherals (or peripheral devices) are sometimes called I/O devices because they provide input and output for the computer

Network

• A network consists of multiple devices that communicate with one another using a transmission medium
• It can be as small as two computers or as large as billions of devices
• Modern networks include laptops, tablets, smartphones, televisions, gaming consoles, smart appliances, and other electronics
• Many types of networks exist, but they fall under two primary categories: LANs and WANs

Software

• Computer software is a general term that describes computer programs or sets of instructions
• Software includes programs, applications, scripts, and instruction sets
• Software is virtual (not physical like hardware) and consists of code written by programmers, compiled into programs

Human resources

• Human resources describe both the people who work for a company/organization and the department responsible for managing employee-related resources
• They are often referred to as the end-users of a system

Computer

• Client
• Server

Client

• In the computer world, servers have clients
• The "client-server" architecture is common in both local and wide area networks
• A client is hardware or software that accesses a service provided by a server

Server

• A server provides data to other computers over a network
• Servers may serve data on a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN)
• Many types of servers exist, such as web servers, mail servers, and file servers
• Servers run software specific to their purpose (e.g., web servers run Apache or Microsoft IIS)