Electronic hardware consists of interconnected
electronic component
An electronic component is any basic discrete device or physical entity in an electronic system used to affect electrons or their associated fields. Electronic components are mostly industrial products, available in a singular form and are not ...
s which perform
analog
Analog or analogue may refer to:
Computing and electronics
* Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable
** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals
*** Analog electronics, circuits which use analo ...
or
logic operations on received and locally stored information to produce as output or store resulting new information or to provide control for output actuator mechanisms.
Electronic hardware can range from individual
chips/
circuits to distributed
information processing
Information processing is the change (processing) of information in any manner detectable by an observer. As such, it is a process that ''describes'' everything that happens (changes) in the universe, from the falling of a rock (a change in posit ...
systems. Well designed electronic hardware is composed of hierarchies of functional modules which inter-communicate via precisely defined interfaces.
Hardware logic is primarily a differentiation of the data processing circuitry from other more generalized circuitry. For example nearly all computers include a
power supply which consists of circuitry not involved in data processing but rather powering the data processing circuits. Similarly, a computer may output information to a
computer monitor
A computer monitor is an output device that displays information in pictorial or textual form. A discrete monitor comprises a visual display, support electronics, power supply, housing, electrical connectors, and external user controls.
The di ...
or
audio amplifier
An audio power amplifier (or power amp) is an electronic amplifier that amplifies low-power electronic audio signals, such as the signal from a radio receiver or an electric guitar pickup, to a level that is high enough for driving loudspea ...
which is also not involved in the computational processes.
See also
*
Digital electronics
References
Electronic engineering
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