Description of a Computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to manipulate symbols. It is made of plastic, metal, silicon, and glass. It can, therefore, perform complex and repetitive procedures quickly, precisely, and reliably and can store and retrieve large amounts of data. The parts you can touch are called hardware, even if they are on the inside where you can t reach them. A computer can not work without software.
Software is the set of step by step instructions that tell a computer what to do.
Go there now and read all of the definitions listed for computer. The physical components, the things, that make up a computer system are called hardware. We will call the larger CPU the system unit to avoid confusion. Inside the system unit is the real CPU, a power supply, circuit boards, RAM, ROM, a hard drive, and other disk drives. The real CPU is a microprocessor chip .