# Introduction to Operating System  ## Metadata - Author: [[Demo]] - Full Title: Introduction to Operating System - Category: #articles - Summary: An operating system (OS) is a program that acts as a bridge between users and computer hardware, managing resources like memory and processing tasks. It enables programs to run by providing services such as error handling, communication, and resource allocation. System calls are used by programs to request services from the OS, allowing them to create processes, manage files, and access devices. - URL: https://medium.com/@demozeik/introduction-to-operating-system-3274f0ff947d ## Highlights - Operating system is aprogram that acts as an intermediary between a user of a computer and the computer hardware. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jw2hkxzgs2q8e4gdd7msap1w)) - Main functions of Operating System are, • managing the resources (memory, registers, I/O devices) efficiently. • allocating the processor for different processes. • reading and writing data from memory. • managing application software’s and resolving if some error occurs during process. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jw2hvfmncvv9ng1t8v9337nh)) - Kernel the most important part of the software collection called OS. It is the program that does all the heavy lifting in an operating system. It handles the hardware, timing, peripherals, memory, disks, user access and everything that you do on a computer. It decides when a software should run and what should be the permissions given to it. It makes sure that no program access memory that do not belong to it and that no program causes other programs to crash. It divides the time up for processes to use the processor ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jw2hwba57ex257nwfvv76wdz)) - A shell is the part of an OS that you as a user interact with. It is a interface created so that a user can communicate with the Kernel. Command line and GUI shells exist. The combination of these and few other software are together called the OS ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jw2hxxfzxfgg8hmc011xeafp)) - Kernel is the one program running at all times on the computer (without it, you wouldn’t have an OS) ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01jw2hyf4ypamyr3wvvkckrwy6))