Refers to objects that you can actually touch, like disks, disk drives, display screens, keyboards, printers, boards, and chips. In contrast, software is untouchable. Software exists as ideas, concepts, and symbols, but it has no substance.
Books provide a useful analogy. The pages and the ink are the hardware, while the words, sentences, paragraphs, and the overall meaning are the software. A computer without software is like a book full of blank pages -- you need software to make the computer useful just as you need words to make a book meaningful.
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Network
A group of two or more computer systems linked together. There are many types of computer networks, including:
local-area networks (LANs) : The computers are geographically close together (that is, in the same building).
wide-area networks (WANs) : The computers are farther apart and are connected by telephone lines or radio waves.
campus-area networks (CANs): The computers are within a limited geographic area, such as a campus or military base.
metropolitan-area networks MANs): A data network designed for a town or city.
home-area networks (HANs): A network contained within a user's home that connects a person's digital devices.
In addition to these types, the following characteristics are also used to categorize different types of networks:
topology : The geometric arrangement of a computer system. Common topologies include a bus, star, and ring. See the Network topology diagrams in the Quick Reference section of Webopedia.
protocol : The protocol defines a common set of rules and signals that computers on the network use to communicate. One of the most popular protocols for LANs is called Ethernet. Another popular LAN protocol for PCs is the IBM token-ring network .
architecture : Networks can be broadly classified as using either a peer-to-peer or client/server architecture.
Computers on a network are sometimes called nodes. Computers and devices that allocate resources for a network are called servers.
(v.) To connect two or more computers together with the ability to communicate with each other.
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Input
(n.) Whatever goes into the computer. Input can take a variety of forms, from commands you enter from the keyboard to data from another computer or device. A device that feeds data into a computer, such as a keyboard or mouse, is called an input device.
(v.) The act of entering data into a computer.
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Output
(n.) Anything that comes out of a computer. Output can be meaningful information or gibberish, and it can appear in a variety of forms -- as binary numbers, as characters, as pictures, and as printed pages. Output devices include display screens, loudspeakers, and printers.
(v.) To give out. For example, display screens output images, printers output print, and loudspeakers output sounds.
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Storage
(1) The capacity of a device to hold and retain data.
(2) Short for mass storage.
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