How do a computer’s hardware and software actually connect?
In: Technology
Software could be described as a specific state of the hardware like if you had a controlboard with lots of knobs (Just with way more information and instead of straightforward settings there are many conditions). Hardware can save information by changing its state like you can save information on paper by writing on it. Software is information and thus the hardware can save it (on your hard drive/ssd to be more specific).
Now part of the hardware can read out the software information and interpret it is commands on what to do. When you turn your computer on it starts by reading some firmware (which is essentially software that is less easy to change), over this firmware it then starts reading your operating system and when you click the button to start some program that triggers some commands your operating system has which say “now start reading this software you saved and start executing the commands you read”. And so the processor tells the hard drive “I need the information you saved in this position” and the hard drive sends the information to the processor and the processor interprets the information as commands on what to do.
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