What is the difference between Hardware, Software and Firmware?
Hardware: It is a physical item, which we can see and touch.
Example:
Laptop
Smartphone
Printer
Our Laptop is a piece of Hardware, which contains Software and Firmware too. Hardware devices are also comprised of other hardware devices, such as Adapters, Processor, motherboard, etc.
Software — It is a virtual thing, which is made up of a set of user programs running on a system that is designed to be updated often by users.
Examples:
Mobile Applications
Web Browsers
It is most flexible, we can update, modify, delete easily.
Firmware — It is semi-permanent software, which we may not update frequently, it requires a high level of skill.
It does not disappear when the hardware is powered off and is often changed by special installation processes or with administration tools. The memory firmware uses is very fast which makes it ideal for controlling hardware where performance is important. For example, NETGEAR routers filter using firmware, which tends to make them faster than a PC or Macintosh performing a similar function.
Software is the most temporary and flexible. Firmware is semi-permanent software that’s connected more directly to the hardware and updated less often, and hardware is the physical component that is mostly permanent.
