An operating system, or OS for short is the most basic program on your computer. It interfaces with hardware and helps you run programs that are stored on it to do tasks like write letters or play games.

The three most important aspects of an operating system are its ability to manage resources, establish the interface for users and services that run on it. Additionally, an effective OS must be fast enough so as not to interrupt what you’re doing when loading programs or switching between them in order not to get caught with unexpected errors.

Importance

The need for an operating system is clear. The importance of one can not be overstated, but the importance is here,

  • The operating system is a clever and efficient resource manager. It utilizes the computer in an economical manner, keeping track of different jobs as they come along with their results stored where appropriate so that it can return them when requested by other processes or users on your device.
  • Job control is the key to keeping jobs running smoothly in a multi-user environment. It schedules jobs according to their priority, passing control from one program or task group to another until they are all completed successfully without interruption.
  • Operating system is the main link between your computer and all of its programs. It not only helps run applications, but also ensures that you get good output for them.
  • The operating system can fetch programs from memory when required and not all at once. This gives the user more space to work in one package, rather than having multiple packages loading on top of each other.
  • The operating system helps the user in file management, making directions and saving files to them. This is a very good feature provided by an OS that can organize data according to your needs.
  • Multiprogramming is a very important feature of the operating system. It schedules and controls the running of several programs at once so you can get more done, faster.
  • The program editor allows users to modify and update their programs with ease.
  • The operating system provides helpful debugging aids to the user that help them detect errors in programs.
  • The operating system uses diskette checks to make sure the data on your disks are valid.

The operating program in your computer is responsible for loading the operating system from disk into main memory when you turn on or reset it. Once loaded, some parts of this remain permanently installed while others are swapped out depending on what job needs access at any given moment–and can be accessed by other jobs running alongside them if need-be.

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