Operating system for everybody.
What is an operating system and why do we need it, in a simple way.
You all already know about operating systems. Yes, you heard it right. Windows is an operating system, Android and iOS are an operating system.
But what is an operating system? Windows, Android, iOS what do these all do for us?
Have you ever had a blue screen error on windows, and you had to reinstall windows from scratch to use your laptop. If no, great for you. If yes, why we need to reinstall windows, is related to what the Operating system does for us.
What is an operating system? and why do we need it?
An Operating system is a software that helps us use the hardware that is inside our devices in a simple way. For example, windows helps you use the processor inside your CPU, play games, transfer files, etc. Android and iOS helps you click photos, listen to music, talk to your friends, many more things. So if your windows is not working, you won’t be able to use your hardware, which may be a PC or a laptop.
But if we just need to use the hardware, why can’t we just do it ourselves?
The thing is, using hardware is a very complex process. For everything you need to do, you will have to write a program to perform it, which can be a very difficult and time-consuming task. Imagine you need to call 911 or 100? You would have to write a program to do it which will most probably take three to five hours. For many of us(including me), we won’t get it to work correctly in the first attempt. And for an emergency situation like those, time is of the essence. Or even if you want to click pictures of your favorite food to share it with everyone, you will have to write a program. By the time you finish writing it, your food will already be cold and inedible.
That is the first reason we use an Operating system. It helps us complete our tasks in a simple way. We use our cellphones to click pictures but we don’t need to know how it is using the camera to take pictures and store it the phone. Even the overview of taking a picture is long and complex.
The second reason is that it completes our tasks faster. Now,many of you may be thinking that statement is wrong.Many of you who are already familiar with programming may wonder “But the time taken for our program to finish running will be faster when we do it ourselves, compared to using an Operating system like windows”. Wait, how can OS make do something faster by being slower than our self-written program. These statements are telling completely different things. Well, you are right. When you write the program yourself and run it, then the time taken for it to finish running will be faster. But the total time we needed to complete the task includes the time taken to write the program(3–5 hours) also. So ultimately one uses more time to do the same thing when we write it ourselves.
Thank you for giving this your precious time. Hope you enjoyed it. If you have any doubts please ask. I will try my best to clear them. If you have constructive criticism, do tell me, I will try to improve those points.
