A computer consists of various components such as input device, storage device, output device and CPU. All these components together make a computer system. To utilise and manage this system properly, all its components should be managed properly. The computer can understand only machine language and the user can communicate only by human understandable language. Therefore, there is a need to manage the basic hardware resources and provide an interface to users and their programs. This is done by special system software known as an Operating System (OS). It has bridged the gap between the user and the computer.
Introducing Operating System
The operating system is a master program, which controls the functioning of the system. The main works of an operating system are:
• Input/Output management
• Memory management
• File management
There are many operating systems in the Information Technology (IT) industry, but some of the popular operating systems are: UNIX, Linux, MS-DOS, Windows 95/98, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP, etc.
Operating System, an Interface between user and Hardware
The User Interface
The user interface can be defined as the way the user tells the computer what to do and how the computer displays information and options to the user.
The two types of user interfaces are:
• The Character User Interface (CUI): A text-based interface or Command Line Interface (CLI) means typing in all the commands. Commands / instruction are given to computer in the form of characters. If there is a typing mistake, you need to backspace to the error, which erases what you already typed.
• The Graphical User Interface (GUI): Uses pictures. It is more user friendly.