Your operating system holds a significant importance for you as it serves as a nucleus for all your computer operations. It is one of those tools that helps you accomplish your potential at work, home or just between any places in between. Thus, it has to be always healthy!At iYogi, you can avail unparallel support services to protect your Microsoft Windows Operating System against nasty errors and malicious online activities. iYogi tech experts can provide you with instant help in resolving any software support issues - from basic to critical - 24X7.iYogi’s help desk for Windows offer software support for all types of environments - desktops, servers, home based computing, and laptops.

Here you can avail technical support for over 100 software applications and computer hardware including peripherals. The following lessons introduce the topic of operating systems in computers by discussing the main function of operating systems and investigating several key parts of operating systems such as memory and file managers. Each lesson includes a set of review questions which test the important concepts from the lesson and provide practice problems. After reading each lesson, you should work the review questions before proceeding to the next lesson. Use the navigation bar at the top of this page to view the lessons and access the review questions. Each lesson page has a link on the navigation bar which will take you to the review questions for that lesson. Computer software can be divided into two main categories: application software and system software. According to Brookshear [1997], "application software consists of the programs for performing tasks particular to the machine's utilization. Examples of application software include spreadsheets, database systems, desktop publishing systems, program development software, and games." Application software is generally what we think of when someone speaks of computer programs. This software is designed to solve a particular problem for users.
On the other hand, system software is more transparent and less noticed by the typical computer user. This software "provides a general programming environment in which programmers can create specific applications to suit their needs. This environment provides new functions that are not available at the hardware level and performs tasks related to executing the application program" [Nutt 1997]. System software acts as an interface between the hardware of the computer and the application software that users need to run on the computer. The diagram below illustrates the relationship between application software and system software. The most important type of system software is the operating system. According to Webopedia [2000], an operating system has three main responsibilities: Perform basic tasks, such as recognizing input from the keyboard, sending output to the display screen, keeping track of files and directories on the disk, and controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives and printersEnsure that different programs and users running at the same time do not interfere with each other. Provide a software platform on top of which other programs (i.e., application software) can run.

The first two responsibilities address the need for managing the computer hardware and the application programs that use the hardware. The third responsibility focuses on providing an interface between application software and hardware so that application software can be efficiently developed. Since the operating system is already responsible for managing the hardware, it should provide a programming interface for application developers.
Nutt [1997] identifies four common types of operating system strategies on which modern operating systems are built: batch, timesharing, personal computing, and dedicated. According to Nutt, "the favored strategy for any given computer depends on how the computer is to be used, the cost-effectiveness of the strategy implementation in the application environment, and the general state of the technology at the time the operating system is developed." The table below summarizes the characteristics of each operating system strategy as described by Nutt [1997].
This strategy involves reading a series of jobs (called a batch) into the machine and then executing the programs for each job in the batch. This approach does not allow users to interact with programs while they operate.Timesharing This strategy supports multiple interactive users. Rather than preparing a job for execution ahead of time, users establish an interactive session with the computer and then provide commands, programs and data as they are needed during the session.Personal Computing This strategy supports a single user running multiple programs on a dedicated machine. Since only one person is using the machine, more attention is given to establishing predictable response times from the system. This strategy is quite common today because of the popularity of personal computers.
Dedicated his strategy supports real-time and process control systems. These are the types of systems which control satellites, robots, and air-traffic control. The dedicated strategy must guarantee certain response times for particular computing tasks or the application is useless.
By the end of this section, you should be able to do the following:
Understand the purpose of the operating system,
Distinguish between a resource, a program, and a process,
Recognize critical resources and explain the behavior of semaphores,
Describe various memory page replacement algorithms, and
Describe how files are stored in secondary storage.
Here you can avail technical support for over 100 software applications and computer hardware including peripherals. The following lessons introduce the topic of operating systems in computers by discussing the main function of operating systems and investigating several key parts of operating systems such as memory and file managers. Each lesson includes a set of review questions which test the important concepts from the lesson and provide practice problems. After reading each lesson, you should work the review questions before proceeding to the next lesson. Use the navigation bar at the top of this page to view the lessons and access the review questions. Each lesson page has a link on the navigation bar which will take you to the review questions for that lesson. Computer software can be divided into two main categories: application software and system software. According to Brookshear [1997], "application software consists of the programs for performing tasks particular to the machine's utilization. Examples of application software include spreadsheets, database systems, desktop publishing systems, program development software, and games." Application software is generally what we think of when someone speaks of computer programs. This software is designed to solve a particular problem for users.
On the other hand, system software is more transparent and less noticed by the typical computer user. This software "provides a general programming environment in which programmers can create specific applications to suit their needs. This environment provides new functions that are not available at the hardware level and performs tasks related to executing the application program" [Nutt 1997]. System software acts as an interface between the hardware of the computer and the application software that users need to run on the computer. The diagram below illustrates the relationship between application software and system software. The most important type of system software is the operating system. According to Webopedia [2000], an operating system has three main responsibilities: Perform basic tasks, such as recognizing input from the keyboard, sending output to the display screen, keeping track of files and directories on the disk, and controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives and printersEnsure that different programs and users running at the same time do not interfere with each other. Provide a software platform on top of which other programs (i.e., application software) can run.
The first two responsibilities address the need for managing the computer hardware and the application programs that use the hardware. The third responsibility focuses on providing an interface between application software and hardware so that application software can be efficiently developed. Since the operating system is already responsible for managing the hardware, it should provide a programming interface for application developers.
Nutt [1997] identifies four common types of operating system strategies on which modern operating systems are built: batch, timesharing, personal computing, and dedicated. According to Nutt, "the favored strategy for any given computer depends on how the computer is to be used, the cost-effectiveness of the strategy implementation in the application environment, and the general state of the technology at the time the operating system is developed." The table below summarizes the characteristics of each operating system strategy as described by Nutt [1997].
This strategy involves reading a series of jobs (called a batch) into the machine and then executing the programs for each job in the batch. This approach does not allow users to interact with programs while they operate.Timesharing This strategy supports multiple interactive users. Rather than preparing a job for execution ahead of time, users establish an interactive session with the computer and then provide commands, programs and data as they are needed during the session.Personal Computing This strategy supports a single user running multiple programs on a dedicated machine. Since only one person is using the machine, more attention is given to establishing predictable response times from the system. This strategy is quite common today because of the popularity of personal computers.
Dedicated his strategy supports real-time and process control systems. These are the types of systems which control satellites, robots, and air-traffic control. The dedicated strategy must guarantee certain response times for particular computing tasks or the application is useless.
By the end of this section, you should be able to do the following:
Understand the purpose of the operating system,
Distinguish between a resource, a program, and a process,
Recognize critical resources and explain the behavior of semaphores,
Describe various memory page replacement algorithms, and
Describe how files are stored in secondary storage.


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