Concept in Definition ABC

Literally, "hardware"would mean" hard merchandise ". With this concept it is tried designate all tangible components in an electronic system, that is, what we can play: keyboard, mouse, monitor, chips, boards, printers, etc. An analogy could be made with the human being and say that the software is thinking, Meanwhile he hardware is the body.

It is confusing to relate to hardware with components "real"or"physical"because this would mean that computer systems have non-physical or even unreal components. The hardware it wouldn't work or be useless without a "software", the "intangible" and logical part of a computer system: a set of instructions to be carried out by the hardware. Furthermore, this terminology is so well established and widespread today that, although some translators strongly recommend replacing the word software for the idea of ​​"software", there is not the slightest consensus to destroy Anglicism "hardware"to give rise to an equivalent expression in our language.

On a PC or computer system similar (phone mobile, portable players), we can distinguish between different components: input peripherals (mouse, keyboard, scanner, microphone input, webcam, stylus), output (speakers, printer, monitor [unless touchscreen]), mixed media (hard drives, modems, USB sticks, interactive displays, optical disc reading units), the Central Processing Unit (central processment unit or CPU, the "brain" of the machine), the RAM (storage temporary data, place where programs are executed in conjunction with the CPU and other components of greater complexity) and the hardware graphics (video cards, which have their own central processing unit).

It is interesting to know that the first computers worked on the basis of vacuum tubes or valves, they were glass tubes the size of a light bulb housing electrical circuits. In great quantity and together with other elements, they formed a hardware system relatively complex involving large dimensions. The tubes used to be filled with bugs, hence the term "debug" (bug = "bug" in English): "desbichar"; removing the bugs from the tubes so that the system would work properly was one of the tasks of the technicians in the middle of the 20th century. These first expressions of what we know today as hardware It allows us to explain the meaning of "hard merchandise" that was indicated at the beginning. Many of these early pieces of equipment occupied an entire room and the data processing was not completely digital, but in many cases included mechanical processing components. From there comes the image, today only imaginable in museums, of the use of punched cards, perhaps the older mixed devices, as a resource for exchanging data and information with the CPU of then. While the appearance of floppy disks (floppy disks) meant a shocking revolution in terms of memory capacity and velocity processing, these systems are also part of memory, being progressively displaced by compact discs, DVDs and current memory cards.

The invention of transistors it was associated with the considerable reduction in the size of the machines; likewise, they made them more reliable and cheaper. Later, with silicon chip technology, these transistors could be assembled into integrated circuits, occupying better space, to later give way to microprocessors: almost complete computers that fit in a single chip. These parameters were the foundation for the emergence of desktop personal computers, which soon gave way to lighter weight and more portable computers such as PCs. notebooks and the netbooks. These smaller hardware versions were further associated with a simplification of the hardware components, thus increasing the number of mixed elements that allow data entry at the same time to the team (input) and information output (output). On this foundation both tablets arose, as an expression of optimization of the size in the framework of high performance, such as smartphones. The Format from hardware from both resources technicians ensures that, currently, each potential user has the necessary technical framework to send data and receive information anywhere on the planet, thus facilitating communication in a way never before described in the history of the humanity.

The nanotechnology promises to take the next big leap in the computing age. Through this technique, it is estimated that the transistors will acquire dimensions less than a micrometer, which is why the weight of the hardware could be reduced to unsuspected levels. Consequently, progressive digitization will allow for greater dissemination of knowledge and will conclusively highlight the unique importance of computing in creating a better future.