System

System, any collection of component elements that work together to perform a task. In computer science, system is used in a variety of contexts. A computer is a hardware system consisting of a microprocessor and allied chips and circuitry, plus an input device (keyboard, mouse, disk drive), an output device (monitor, disk drive), and any peripheral devices (printer, modem). Within this hardware system is an operating system, often called system software, which is an essential set of programs that manage hardware and data files and work with application programs. External to the computer, system also refers to any collection or combination of programs, procedures, data, and equipment used in processing information: an accounting system, a billing system, a database-management system.