What Are The Purposes Of An Operating System?

If you have got a computer then you'll be using operating system to operate your computer. But what operating system is? Operating System (OS) is a set of software programs that are used for organizing and controlling the hardware and software resources of a computer. Keyboard, mouse, printers, digital camera, scanner, monitor etc are hardware resources of a computer while internet explorer, Microsoft office, programming and graphics applications are the software resources of a computer.

The Operating system receives the user requests and then takes appropriate action on it. The user can't access directly the resources of a computer. A user doesn't need to know how printer is working and how it's printing the pages. The user has just to send the request for printing.  The Operating system receives the user request and takes appropriate action on it, i.e. if the printer is powered OFF or if printer is already busy in printing pages of some other user it notifies the user.

Similarly when a user is ending graphics data to screen it's actually operating system that displays data or graphics on the screen. User actually request Operating system to display data on the monitor screen.
Operating also manages the memory of a computer, i.e. it keeps a record that where applications reside in a memory.

An operating system is a program that works as mediator between a computer user and the hardware. The main and foremost purpose of an operating system is to offer an atmosphere in which a user can execute programs. The chief goal of an operating system is thus to make the computer system suitable and convenient to use. Operating system exists because they are supposed to make it easier to compute with them than without them. This view is particularly clear when we look at operating systems for small personal computers. A secondary goal is to use computer hardware in efficient manner. Currently time shared and multiprogrammed systems are used.

The operating system controls and coordinates the use of the hardware among the various applications programs for the various users. An Operating system is similar to "government". Like a government operating system performs no function by itself. It simply provides an environment within which other programs can do useful work. We can view an operating system as "resource allocator". The operating system must decide which requests are allocated resources to operate the computer system efficiently and fairly. A slightly different view of an operating system focuses on the need to control the various I/O devices and user programs. So an operating system also works as a "control program". A control program controls the execution of user programs to prevent errors and improper use of computer. It is especially concerned with the operation and control of I/O devices.

Operating system is used to communicate with computers. Through this a man can control all operations related to hardware and software.

An operating system is a program that works as mediator between a computer user and the hardware. The main and foremost purpose of an operating system is to offer an atmosphere in which a user can execute programs. The chief goal of an operating system is thus to make the computer system suitable and convenient to use. Operating system exists because they are supposed to make it easier to compute with them than without them. This view is particularly clear when we look at operating systems for small personal computers. A secondary goal is to use computer hardware in efficient manner. Currently time shared and multiprogram systems are used.

The operating system controls and coordinates the use of the hardware among the variety of applications programs for the different users. An Operating system is parallel to "government". Like a government operating system performs no function by itself. It basically provides an atmosphere within which other programs can do constructive work. We can inspect an operating system as "resource allocator". The operating system must make a decision which requests are allocated resources to control and operate the computer system efficiently and fairly. A slightly different view of an operating system focuses on the need to control the various I/O devices and user programs. So an operating system also works as a "control program". A control program controls the execution of user programs to avoid errors and offensive use of computer. It is particularly concerned with the operation and control of I/O devices.