Explain the Purpose of an Operating System Essays

Explain the Purpose of an Operating System Essays Explain the Purpose of an Operating System Essay Explain the Purpose of an Operating System Essay Explain the purpose of an operating system Process Management A multitasking operating system may give the appearance that a lot of processes are running concurrently/simultaneously, this is not true as only one process can be executing at any one time on a single-core CPU, unless on a multi-core or similar technology. Processes are often called tasks in embedded operating systems. The function of the task or process is something that takes up time, as opposed to memory, which is something that takes up space or capacity For security and reliability reasons most modern operating systems prevent direct communication between independent processes, providing strictly mediated and controlled inter-process communication functionality. Memory Management This involves providing ways to allocate portions of memory to programs at their request, and freeing it for reuse when no longer needed. The management of main memory is critical to the computer system. Virtual memory systems separate the memory addresses used by a process from actual physical addresses, allowing separation of processes and increasing the effectively available amount of RAM using paging or swapping to secondary storage. The quality of the virtual memory manager can have a big impact on overall system performance. Processes should not be able to source the memory for another process without permission. This is called memory protection, and prevents malicious or malfunctioning code in one program from interfering with the operation of other running programs. Disk Management Basic storage involves dividing a disk into primary and extended partitions. This is the way that all versions of Windows that were reliant on DOS-handled storage took, and disks formatted in this manner are known as basic disks. Dynamic storage involves the use of a single partition that covers the entire disk, and the disk itself is divided into volumes or combined with other disks to form volumes that are greater in size than one disk itself. Volumes can use any supported file system. Networking Networking is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels eg. Ethernet, that allows sharing of resources and information. -Using a network, people can communicate efficiently and easily via e-mail, instant messaging, chat rooms, telephony, video telephone calls, and videoconferencing. -In a networked environment, each computer on a network can access and use hardware on the network. Suppose several personal computers on a network each require the use of a printer. If the personal computers and a laser printer are connected to a network, each user can then access the laser printer on the network, as they need it. -In a network environment, any authorized user can access data and information stored on other computers on the network. The capability of providing access to data and information on shared storage devices is an important feature of many networks. -Users connected to a network can access application on the network. Security The on-going and excessive practice of protection for the confidentiality and honesty of information and system resources so that an unauthorized user has to spend an unacceptable amount of time or money or absorb too much risk in order to defeat it, with the ultimate goal that the system can be trusted with sensitive information. Other It provides a very stable and rigid way for apps to deal with the hardware without having to know everything about it. But not anyone person can know everything about it as it’s too large and has to be built piece by piece. The most important program that runs on a computer. Every computer used day to day use will need an operating system to operate other programs. Operating systems perform basic tasks, such as recognizing input from the keyboard, and sending output to the screen, keeping track of files on the disk, and controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives and printers. All if not most of the OS’s use TCP/IP networking protocols this mean they can network to other computers and use printers or scanners and other peripherals. For large systems, the operating system has even greater responsibilities and powers. It makes sure that different program are able to run with each other and don’t interfere. The operating system is also responsible for security, making sure that the computer and the files are protected from unauthorised users. Newer file systems use a very simple yet can be very large. The files are distributed into directories, like a hierarchy, a folder in folder. FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, ExFAT and ZFS are all file systems. Operating systems can be classified as follows: -multi-user: Allows two or more users to run programs at the same time. Some operating systems allow hundreds or even thousands of users. -multiprocessing: Supports running a program on more than one CPU. -multitasking: Allows more than one program to run at the same time. -multithreading: Allows different parts of a single program to run at the same time. -real time: Responds to input instantly. General-purpose operating systems, such as DOS and UNIX, are not real-time. Operating systems provide a software platform on top of which other programs, called application programs, can run. The application programs must be written to run on top of a particular operating system. Your choice of operating system, therefore, determines to a great extent the applications you can run. For PCs, the most popular operating systems are Windows in which 90% of the world use, but others are available, such as Linux. Security can be in two forms internal and external, internal is already running in the background of the computer and will protect from programs isabling the antivirus and installing spyware. External is like passwords and firewalls that protect your computer files from outside in intrusions. The OS performs most of the functions that the user wants it is the most complex program on the computer. If it’s down nothing can run and recovery from errors become critical. As a user, you normally interact with the operating system through a set of commands . For example, the DOS operating system contains commands for copying files and changing the names of files, respectively. The commands are accepted and executed by a part of the operating system called the command processor or command line interpreter. Graphical user interfaces (GUI) allow you to enter commands by pointing and clicking at objects that appear on the screen. Problems occur like it crashes or it’s to slow these are unsolved and are never perfect for any use as it doesn’t do everything it was designed to do. Don’t adapt or change very easily and can also become a problem for some users.