Operating System

Overview

An operating system (OS) is software that manages computer hardware and software resources while also providing common functions to computer programmes. Time-sharing operating systems plan tasks to make the most of the system's resources, and they may also contain accounting software to track the cost of processing time, storage, printing, and other resources. Although application code is usually executed directly by the hardware and frequently makes system calls to an OS function or is interrupted by it, the operating system acts as an intermediary between programmes and the computer hardware for hardware functions such as input and output and memory allocation. From cellular phones and video game consoles to web servers and supercomputers, operating systems are present on many devices that incorporate a computer.