LECTURE NOTE FOR BCA-Ist Year ---- Office Management Tools (BCA106)

Introduction to Operating System

The operating system (OS) is the most important program that runs on a computer. Every
general-purpose computer must have an operating system to run other programs
and applications. Computer operating systems 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 printers.

For large systems, the operating system has even greater responsibilities and powers. It is like
a traffic cop it makes sure that different programs and users running at the same time do not
interfere with each other. The operating system is also responsible for security, ensuring that
unauthorized users do not access the system.

An operating system (OS) is the program that, after being initially loaded into
the computer by a boot program, manages all the other programs in a
computer. The other programs are called applications or application programs.
The application programs make use of the operating system by making
requests for services through a defined application program interface (API). In
addition, users can interact directly with the operating system through a user
interface such as a command line or a graphical user interface (GUI).
An operating system performs these services for applications:

In a multitasking operating system where multiple programs can be

running at the same time, the operating system determines which

LECTURE NOTE FOR BCA-Ist Year ---- Office Management Tools (BCA106)

applications should run in what order and how much time should be
allowed for each application before giving another application a turn.

It manages the sharing of internal memory among multiple applications.

It handles input and output to and from attached hardware devices, such
as hard disks, printers, and dial-up ports.

It sends messages to each application or interactive user (or to a system

operator) about the status of operation and any errors that may have
occurred.

It can offload the management of what are called batch jobs (for
example, printing) so that the initiating application is freed from this work.

On computers that can provide parallel processing, an operating system

can manage how to divide the program so that it runs on more than one
processor at a time.

A filesystem is the methods and data structures that an operating system uses to keep
track of files on a disk or partition; that is, the way the files are organized on the disk.
The word is also used to refer to a partition or disk that is used to store the files or the
type of the filesystem. Thus, one might say ``I have two filesystems'' meaning one has
two partitions on which one stores files, or that one is using the ``extended
filesystem'', meaning the type of the filesystem.
The difference between a disk or partition and the filesystem it contains is important.
A few programs (including, reasonably enough, programs that create filesystems)
operate directly on the raw sectors of a disk or partition; if there is an existing file
system there it will be destroyed or seriously corrupted. Most programs operate on a
filesystem, and therefore won't work on a partition that doesn't contain one (or that
contains one of the wrong type).

File Structure
A File Structure should be according to a required format that the operating
system can understand.

LECTURE NOTE FOR BCA-Ist Year ---- Office Management Tools (BCA106)

A file has a certain defined structure according to its type.

A text file is a sequence of characters organized into lines.
A source file is a sequence of procedures and functions.
An object file is a sequence of bytes organized into blocks that
are understandable by the machine.
When operating system defines different file structures, it also
contains the code to support these file structure. Unix, MS-DOS
support minimum number of file structure.