/  OS-Introduction

Introduction to Operating System

 

What is an Operating System?

 

An Operating system is system software that commands the computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.

 

One more way to define it would be:  An operating system is a program that is running on the computer at all times, while all others being application programs. 

 

Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and for hardware functions the Operating System acts as an intermediary between the computer hardware and the computer programs. 

 

What are the applications of an Operating System?

 

An operating system provides three main benefits:

  1. It offers a UI through a CLI or GUI.
  2. It manages the application execution. 
  3. It identifies system hardware resources to those applications through a standardized API. 

 

Other applications of an operating system are as follows:

  1. It maintains the security and access rights of the users by the means of passwords. 
  2. It organizes the processing time between the processor and users.
  3. It issues simple error messages. 
  4. It provides an interface between the computer and the user. 
  5. It deals with the transfer of programs in and out of the memory. 

 

Why to learn Operating systems?

 

The reasons for learning operating systems:

  1. Operating System is an intermediary between applications and hardware components. 
  2. It allows one to create an abstraction to hide details of the hardware.
  3. OS ensures that the computer system gets resources in formats that are easy to use.
  4. It helps make a computer more convenient to use.
  5. It allows the user to use the computer operations efficiently.  

 

Reference:

Operating system understanding