operating sytems

operating sytems

1. Defenition

   • An operating system is a group of computer programs that coordinates all the activities among computer hardware devices. It is the first program loaded into the computer by a boot program and remains in memory at all times.

2. Basic Functions

   • Booting the computer
   • Performs basic computer tasks eg managing the various peripheral devices eg mouse, keyboard
   • Provides a user interface, e.g. command line, graphical user interface (GUI
   • Handles system resources such as computer's memory and sharing of the central processing unit (CPU) time by various applications or peripheral devices
   • Provides file management which refers to the way that the operating system manipulates, stores, retrieves and saves data.