Operating System:

 An operating system is a program which manages all the computer

hardware’s.
 It provides the base for application program and acts as an intermediary
between a user and the computer hardware.
 The operating system has two objectives such as:
 Firstly, an operating system controls the computer’s hardware.
 The second objective is to provide an interactive interface to the
user and interpret commands so that it can communicate with the
hardware.
 The operating system is very important part of almost every computer
system.
What Operating Systems Do?
A computer system can be divided roughly into four components: the hardware,
the operating system, the application programs, and the users.

Figure. Abstract view of the components of a computer system.

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  The hardware —the central processing unit (CPU),the memory,and the
input/output (I/O) devices — provides the basic computing resources for the
system.
 The application programs — such as word processors, spreadsheets,
compilers, and Web browsers — define the ways in which these resources
are used to solve users’ computing problems.
 The operating system controls the hardware and coordinates its use among
the various application programs for the various users.
 The operating system is the first encoded with the Computer and it remains
on the memory all time thereafter.

View of operating system

An operating system is a construct that allows the user application programs
to interact with the system hardware. The operating system provides a proper
means to utilize the resources of the computer system. It provides an environment
within which other programs can do useful work. To understand the operating
system clearly, it is explored with two viewpoints. This is known as the user view
and the system view respectively.

User View – The goal of the operating system in this viewpoint is to maximize the
work (or play) that the user is performing. The user view depends on the system
interface that is used by the users. ie. The user’s view of the operating system
depends on the type of user. The different types of user view experiences can
be explained as follows −

 If the user is using a personal computer, the operating system is largely

designed to make the interaction easy. In this case the operating system is
designed mostly for easy use with some attention paid to resource
utilization. This is because the personal computer uses all the resources
available and there is no sharing.

 If the user is using a system connected to a mainframe or a minicomputer,

the operating system is largely concerned with resource utilization. This is

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 because there may be multiple terminals connected to the mainframe and the
operating system makes sure that all the resources such as CPU, memory, I/O
devices etc. are divided uniformly between the users.

 If the user is sitting on a workstation connected to other workstations

through networks and servers, then the operating system needs to focus on both
individual usage of resources and sharing though the network. This happens
because the workstation exclusively uses its own resources but it also needs to
share files etc. with other workstations across the network. Therefore, their
operating system is designed to compromise between individual usability and
resource utilization.

 Recently many varieties of mobile computers, such as smartphones andn

tablets, have come into fashion.

 If the user is using a handheld computer such as a mobile, then the operating
system handles the usability of the device including a few remote operations.
The battery level of the device is also taken into account. They are connected
to networks through cellular or other wireless technologies.

 There are some devices that contain very less or no user views because
there is no interaction with the users. Examples are embedded computers in
home devices, automobiles etc. It may have numeric keypads and may turn
indicator lights on or off to show status, but they and their operating systems
are designed primarily to run without user intervention.

System View – The goal of the operating system in this viewpoint is to maximize
the performance. In this viewpoint, the operating system is more involved with
hardware services – CPU time, memory space, I/O operation, and so on. The
operating system is involved in managing the hardware resources and allocation
them to programs and users for maximum performance. In this, Operating
system can be viewed as a resource allocator and control program.

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The different types of system view for operating system can be explained as
follows:

 The system views the operating system as a resource allocator. There are
many resources such as CPU time, memory space, file storage space, I/O
devices etc. that are required by processes for execution. It is the duty of the
operating system to allocate these resources judiciously to the processes so that

the computer system can run as smoothly as possible. The operating

system acts as the manager of these resources.

 The operating system can also work as a control program. It manages all
the processes and I/O devices so that the computer system works smoothly and
there are no errors. It makes sure that the I/O devices work in a proper manner
without creating problems. It manages the execution of user programs to

prevent errors and improper use of the computer. It is especially

concerned with the operation and control of I/O devices.

 Operating systems can also be viewed as a way to make using hardware

easier.

 Computers were required to easily solve user problems. However it is not

easy to work directly with the computer hardware. So, operating systems were
developed to easily communicate with the hardware.

 An operating system can also be considered as a program running at all

times in the background of a computer system (known as the kernel) and
handling all the application programs.