An operating system is a system program that controls and organises the general operation of the computer.
Operating system functions
In any computer, the operating system:
Windows Task Manager provides information about programs running on your computer- controls the backing store and peripherals such as scanners and printers
- deals with the transfer of programs in and out of memory
- organises the use of memory between programs
- organises processing time between programs and users
- maintains security and access rights of users
- deals with errors and user instructions
- allows the user to save files to a backing store
- provides the interface between the user and the computer – for example, Windows Vista and Apple OSX. For more information, see the User Interfaces Revision Bite.
- issues simple error messages
- Polling (Polling is the process where the computer waits for an external device to check for its readiness.)
- Interrupt (an interrupt is a signal to the processor emitted by hardware or software indicating an event that needs immediate attention.
Machine language:
Sometimes referred to as machine code or object code, machine language is a collection of binary digits or bits that the computer reads and interprets. Machine language is the only language a computer is capable of understanding.
Low Level Language:
Low level languages are languages that are easy for the computer to understand like binary languages and hexadecimal language.These languages are also called object codes.
High Level Language:
High level languages are the languages that are easy for us to understand like C language, Java.These languages are also called source codes.
Translators:
Translators are the computer software that translate high level language into low level language and low level language into high level language. There are three types of translators
- Compilers (translate in one go that is mean whole program will be translated in a single step)
- Interpreters (translate program in one by one instruction)
- Assemblers (translate assembly language into machine code)
Computer Science 