1. INTRODUCTION TO OPERARTING SYSTEMS

An operating system is a program that acts as an interface between the user and the computer hardware and controls the execution of all kinds of programs.

 

An operating system is the main program that controls the execution of user applications and enables the user to access hardware and software resources of a computer. User application programs do not directly communicate with hardware devices instead they send messages via the operating system which has the capability to give instructions to the hardware to perform a particular task. Figure 3.1 shows a graphical view of the interaction with the operating system as the intermediary.

It is the main program in the computer that runs all the times.

It includes programs to manage the resources such as traffic controller, schedules, memory management module, I&O program and file system.

 

 

User

 

(Runs application programs)

 

 

 

Application software

 

(Send users requests to OS)

 

 

 

 

 

Operating system

 

(Receives executes requests)

 

 

 

 

 

Hardware

 

(Receives and does as commands)