Operating Systems
Operating Systems An operating system is a program that acts as an intermediary between a user of the PC and the hardware. System Components A computer system can be abstracted into various components. Users (people, or other machines and systems) interact with system and application programs (defines the way in which system resources are used to solve the computing problems of the users), which interact with the OS (controls and co-ordinates the use of hardware among the various application programs for the user), which interacts with the hardware (the most basic computing resources - CPU, memory, I/O, etc). When developing an OS, all levels must be considered, not just the OS level. For users, they interact with the hardware (monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc) to control the system and application programs. The program needs an efficient interface to interact with the OS to utilise the resources it needs to accomplish the tasks the user wants to do and to also communicate with the ...