What is Operating System?

Operating System in Computer-

An Operating System (OS) is a most important software or collection of programs that acts as an interface between the user and the computer hardware. It also allows you to communicate with the computer without knowing how to speak the computer's language. Moreover, the operating system manages the software side of a computer and controls programs execution. It is not possible for the user to use any computer or mobile device without having an operating system. Without an operating system, a computer is useless. Examples of Operating System are: Apple macOS, Microsoft Windows, Google's Android OS, Linux Operating System, and Apple iOS.

The operating system ensures smooth and efficient operation of a computer.

  • Memory management:   Allocation of main memory and other storage to the system programs and the user data and programs.
  • Input/output management:  Management of the input/output devices and their assignment to the various programs that are being executed  
  • File management: The files have to be stored in various storage devices. They have to be transferred from one storage device to another. This is taken care of by the Operating System. 
  • Data security and integrity:  The data and programs have to be handled in such a way that they do not interfere with each other. 
  • Assigning priority to jobs: The operating system is the one which has to decide and allot priority to the jobs which are to be executed. 
  • Interpret commands and detect errors: Each of these functions are performed by a program or a set of programs and all the programs together make the operating system. Normally, there is one control program of the operating system that resides in the main memory of the computer. This program is known as the resident program. The other programs known as transient programs or service programs reside on the disk and are accessed as and when required. The total amount of work performed by the operating system over a period of time is known as throughput. 
  • The response time is the time interval between the time the user submits request and the time he receives the response. Response time is also known as turnaround time the efficiency of a computer system depends upon the throughput and the response time.
  • Functions of the Operating Systems : The operating systems are designed to perform the following functions :  
  • Processor management: A process is a program in execution. The processor is a hardware device which processes a sequence of instructions. Assigning of processors to the different tasks being executed by the computer is processor management.


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