What is a program?
A computer is dumb in the sense that, without programs, it can't do anything. A computer program is a set of instructions that the computer can execute, and it is our job, as programmers, to write these programs using one or more programming languages.
Most applications that we run, such as a web browser, word processor, or mail client, can't communicate with the computer hardware directly. They require a layer in between that takes care of this. This layer is called the operating system. Windows and Linux are two examples of well-known operating systems. The main purpose of an operating system is to take care of the direct communication between the applications that we use and the hardware, such as the processor, memory, hard drives, keyboards, and printers. To be able to perform this communication, the operating system requires special programs that are designed to communicate with a particular device. These programs are called device drivers. A somewhat...
