mice, printers, and scanners. The internal hardware parts of a computer are often referred to as compontents, while external hardware devices are usually called peripherals. Together, they all fall under the category of computer hardware. Sotfware,

on the other hand, consists of the programs and applications that run on computer hardware, software programs often have system requirements that list the minimum hardware required fot the software to run.

Software can be difficult to describe because it is "virtual," or not physical like computer hardware. Instead, software consists of lines of code written by computer programmers that have been compiled into a computer program. Software programs are stored as binary data that is copied to a computer'shard drive, when it is installed. Since software is virtual and does not take up any physical space, it is much easier (and often cheaper) to upgrade than computer hardware.

While at its most basic level, software consists of binary data, CD-ROMs, DVDs, and other types of media that are used to distribute software can also be called software. Therefore, when you buy a software program, it often comes on a disc, which is a physical means of storing the software