6 Best Operating System Courses for Beginners to Learn in 2024
My favorite courses to learn Operating System concepts for Computer Science students, programmers, and IT professionals from Udemy, Coursera, Pluralsight, and edX
Hello guys, if you are a computer science beginner or a self-taught developer looking to learn Operating System fundamentals, then you have come to the right place. I have been sharing Computer fundamental courses in the past like these data structure and algorithms courses and these best computer science courses.
In this article, I will share the best online courses to learn Operating Systems for Beginners. The operating system is the most important piece in any laptop, phone, or IoT device.
Without this piece, your device is only a junk box; no more than that except some hardware that does nothing on a motherboard.
The operating system is also a complex piece of software managing many tasks, or you can say the whole tasks of your device, let’s say a laptop, for instance, like installing the software, memory management, system security, error detection, and much more.
Everyone working in the information technology, Software Development, or computer science field will need at least some basic understanding of computing and how they operate, like interacting with the hardware. It’s also one of the essential skills for Software developers, particularly self-taught developers who have not gone through traditional CS education.
A good understanding of the Operating system is key for programmers because whatever code they will write will eventually run on OS.
If they are not aware of how OS manages memory and concepts like Virtual memory, swapping, memory pages, and page faults, they will have a hard time troubleshooting and fixing memory issues and improving the performance of their application.
The same goes with Concurrency, which is another key task of OS. As a programmer, you need to learn concurrency, Semaphore, critical section, and how OS allows you to run multiple programs without interfering with others.
That’s why OS classes are part of any self-respecting CS program and why every programmer and developer should learn about Operating systems. They all need a basic understanding of using the operating system so he can fix his daily problems like troubleshooting and more.
Whether you intend to learn the fundamentals of operating systems like Linux and Windows or you want to brush up your skills in this domain, taking online courses is probably the best way to learn those skills without the need to go to university for this reason. I have found these best 7 online courses to learn operating systems fundamentals, so keep reading the article to find out more.
7 Best Online Courses to learn Operating System Fundamentals for Programmers in 2024
Here is my list of best online courses to learn the Operating systems for beginners. These online courses have been curated from sites like Udemy, Coursera, Pluralsight, edX, etc. They are created by experts and trusted by thousands of people who want to learn the Operating systems.
1. Operating Systems and You: Becoming a Power User [Coursera]
This is one of the best courses to learn Operating Systems from Coursera. This course is offered by one of the famous and tech giant company Google through the Coursera platform. This course provides an introduction on how to use the two operating systems Linux and Windows, and to use the directories and files.
The course is also a part of the Google support IT professional certificate specialization and created by the Grow With Google team that is helping students around the world learn new skills in various areas.
Then learn the users and permission, like adding new users in the system. Later you will see how to install software and using the packages, and installing the drivers. You will also learn about how the filesystem works for both Windows and Linux and much more.
Here is the link to join this course — Operating Systems and You: Becoming a Power User
You can also audit this course for FREE or join the specialization to earn a certificate. Alternatively, you can also join Coursera Plus, a subscription plan from Coursera which allows unlimited access to their certification programs and courses for just $399/year.
2. Operating Systems from scratch [Best Udemy Course]
The second course on our list targets anyone who wants to learn operating systems from scratch and if you intend to have a career in computer science or even a software engineer. The course has 8.5 hours of content with a 4.5 rating score showing that this course is one of the best on the udemy platform.
Starting with an introduction to operating systems like how the hardware works with the software and the different types of operating systems. ‘
Then moving to hardware, especially the CPU and how it works and its different algorithms such as FCFS, SJF, SRTF. Then you will have an overview of the binary system and memory allocation.
Here is the link to join this course — Operating Systems from scratch
3. Operating Systems: Virtualization, Concurrency & Persistence [Educative.io]
This is another awesome and comprehensive course to learn about Operating systems and build your concepts on Virtualization, Concurrency, and Persistence. This is a text-based, interactive course from Educative, which means you will also learn by doing.
When it comes to learning OS concepts, Virtualization, Concurrency, and persistence are the three most important ones, and this course focuses on that. Once you know these concepts, you can understand how OS works, how they manage memory, and how they allow you to run multiple programs.
Here are the key concepts you will learn in this course:
1. Virtual memory
2. CPU Scheduling
3. Concurrency
4. Swapping
5. Semaphore
6. solving concurrency bugs like deadlock
You will also get a chance to practice a lot of persistence-related stuff via I/O devices and file systems. Overall a great course for building your knowledge about Operating systems from scratch. I highly recommend this course to every programmer and software developer.
Here is the link to join this course — Operating Systems: Virtualization, Concurrency & Persistence
By the way, you can either join this course individually or take the educative subscription which provides access to all of their 250+ interactive courses for just $14.9 per month, an awesome deal for developers and I highly recommend it.
4. Operating Systems Fundamentals [Udemy]
The first course on our list is intended for people who are going to pass the CompTIA A+ and anyone who wants to enhance his skills in the operating systems in general, like using the Linux system and its command lines or using the windows system like installing and troubleshooting.
Starting with an introduction to windows operating systems such as Windows 7, 8, and 10 and how to use them like administrative tools, firewalls, installing the system, and using its command line.
Then moving to have an overview of the macOS and Linux systems, like using the command lines. After that, you will learn about cloud computing, virtualization, and threat management.
Here is the link to join this course — Operating Systems Fundamentals
5. Computer Hardware and Operating Systems [edX Course]
Another great course created by new york university through the edX platform is intended to help people who have no background in operating systems, in general, covering the fundamentals of operating systems and the hardware and software, and much more.
After completing this course, you will be able to define what a computer and operating systems are and learn the components of any operating system and how threads work as well as the memory, thread concurrency and deadlocks, and much more.
Here is the link to join this course — Computer Hardware and Operating Systems
6. Computer Fundamentals: Operating Systems [Pluralsight Course]
The last one on our list is a course offered on the Pluralsight platform targeting people who want to learn operating systems and how software communicates with hardware and software.
Starting with a definition of an operating system and its architecture and the features of every windows version. Then moving to installation and upgrading methods.
After setup everything, you will see how to use Windows command lines like CMD and PowerShell and use the network configuration. Finally, moving to use the macOS and Linux tools and its command line using the terminal.
Here is the link to join this course — Computer Fundamentals: Operating Systems
By the way, you would need a Pluralsight membership to join this course which costs around $29 per month or $299 per year (14% discount). I highly recommend this subscription to all programmers as it provides instant access to more than 7000+ online courses to learn any tech skill. Alternatively, you can also use their 10-day-free-pass to watch this course for FREE.
That’s all about the best online courses to learn Operating Systems for Beginners. Whether working in the IT field or just a normal person, you have to learn how systems and hardware work. Nowadays, no one can ignore computers’ power, and enrolling in one of those courses will ensure to be professional in this field.
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Thanks for reading this article so far. If you find these best Operating System courses for beginners useful, then please share them with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback, then please drop a note.
P. S. — If you are keen to learn about Operating system concepts and looking for the free online course to learn then please checkout Operating System: Understanding the core course on Udemy. It’s FREE.
