An operating system is a software component of a computer system that is responsible for the management of various activities of the computer and the sharing of computer resources. It hosts several applications that run on a computer and handles the operations of computer hardware. Users and application programs access the services offered by the operating systems, by means of system calls and application programming interfaces. Users interact with a computer operating system through Command Line Interfaces (CLIs) or Graphical User Interfaces known as GUIs. In short, an operating system enables user interaction with computer systems by acting as an interface between users or application programs and the computer hardware. Some of the common operating systems are LINUX, Windows, etc.
“Operating system is software which is used to bring our computer in working condition. It means without operating system we cannot do any work through our computer.”
Features of Operating System
- Single and multi user operating system
- Single and multi tasking operating system
- Portability of data and application
- File management
- Input and output device management
- Interrupt handling
