UGC NET Questions (Paper – 1)

Hardware refers to the tangible parts of a computer system that have a physical form. Devices like keyboard, mouse, monitor, motherboard and hard disk all fall under this category. Without hardware, software cannot be executed because there is no physical platform. Therefore, the set of touchable components mentioned in the stem is called hardware.

Option A:
Option A, software, denotes programs and instructions that are intangible and stored electronically. Software cannot be physically touched, so it does not fit the description of physical components.

Option B:
Option B is correct because the conventional classification of a computer system divides it into hardware and software, where hardware is specifically the physical part. All examples given in the question are standard hardware devices listed in introductory ICT texts.

Option C:
Option C, firmware, is specialised software stored in non-volatile memory of hardware devices and though closely tied to hardware, it is still code rather than a physical object.

Option D:
Option D, middleware, refers to software that connects different applications or systems, again lacking physical form and not representing the tangible components mentioned.