What is Operating System?

An Operating System or OS is a software program that runs on a computer system. It enables computer hardware to communicate and operate with the machine software. In general terms, it acts as a medium between software and hardware of the system. Every general purpose computer must have an operating system to run other software and applications on the system. OS is a vital component of the system software in a computer system. Application program usually requires an operating platform to function.

OS is responsible to perform some basic tasks such as recognizing input from the keyboard, keeping track of the files and directories on the disk, sending output to the display screen, and managing & controlling peripheral devices like disk drives, printers, mouse, keyboards, etc. Some examples of OS are Microsoft Windows 7, Apple MacOS, Ubuntu Linux, etc.

Classification of Operating System

Multi- User: It enables two or more users to run programs or applications at the same time. Some operating systems, or OS allows hundreds or even thousands of concurrent users.

Multi- Processing: In this kind of system, it supports running a program on more than one CPU.

Multi- Tasking: Multi- tasking involves running two or more programs concurrently on the system.

Multi- Threading: It supports different parts of a single program to run concurrently.

Real Time: It responds to input instantly.