What Are The Functions Of An Operating System?

There are many functions of an operating system.  There are two main things that it does however, and these are: Managing the software and hardware, and providing an interface, which the installed applications can work with, without having to be programmed to know how the hardware works.

Both computers and mobile phones use operating systems in order to work.  They work in different ways as they have different features involved.

The hardware and software on a desktop computer include memory, the processor, disk space and more, so it has quite a lot to deal with.  On a mobile phone, this can be the screen, key or touch pad, address book, dialler, network connection and the battery.

The operating system is the main aspect of a device, and is very important to its overall function.  Without it, the computer or phone would not be able to work.

There are many other functions that an operating system has.  It also takes care of task management, and basically multitasks, by running many programs at once, without slowing it down.

It also looks after the data within the device and through the use of discs and memory sticks or cards.  It needs to know where they are stored within the system and how to read and write them.

It also has to control the devices plugged into the system.  These are sometimes known as peripherals and can include printers, a mouse, and a keyboard.

It provides a user interface for the user to interact with the device easily. These are all graphics based now, so the user can understand what each button will do, which once clicked upon, is then translated into codes for the computer to make sense of.

An operating system is able to deal with security aspects and use passwords to protect it.

Job Management    Job management controls the order and time in which programs are run and is more sophisticated in the mainframe environment where scheduling the daily work has always been routine. IBM's job control language (JCL) was developed decades ago. In a desktop environment, batch files can be written to perform a sequence of operations that can be scheduled to start at a given time.    Task Management      Multitasking, which is the ability to simultaneously execute multiple programs, is available in all operating systems today. Critical in the mainframe and server environment, applications can be prioritized to run faster or slower depending on their purpose. In the desktop world, multitasking is necessary for keeping several applications open at the same time so you can bounce back and forth among them. Multitasking.      Data Management    Data management keeps track of the data on disk, tape and optical storage devices. The application program deals with data by file name and a particular location within the file. The operating system's file system knows where that data are physically stored (which sectors on disk) and interaction between the application and operating system is through the programming interface. Whenever an application needs to read or write data, it makes a call to the operating system      Device Management      Device management controls peripheral devices by sending them commands in their own proprietary language. The software routine that knows how to deal with each device is called a "driver," and the OS requires drivers for the peripherals attached to the computer. When a new peripheral is added, that device's driver is installed into the operating system.  User Interface  All graphics based today, the user interface includes the windows, menus and method of interaction between you and the computer. Prior to graphical user interfaces (GUIs), all operation of the computer was performed by typing in commands. Not at all extinct, command-line interfaces are alive and well and provide an alternate way of running programs on all major operating systems.  Operating systems may support optional interfaces, both graphical and command line. Although the overwhelming majority of people work with the default interfaces, different "shells" offer variations of appearance and functionality.  Security  Operating systems provide password protection to keep unauthorized users out of the system. Some operating systems also maintain activity logs and accounting of the user's time for billing purposes. They also provide backup and recovery routines for starting over in the event of a system failure.  Other Functions Of An Operating System:-  (1) Services of an O.S.:-    Operating system by itself does not perform work i.e. Useful to the end user of the computer. It creates the environment in which the application program can function o.s. Provided services to users are-  1) Program Execution :- Loading the program into memory , executing & terminating the program.  2) Error Deletion :-  Identifying & traffic of errors detected while processing user request to hardware like keyboard error , shortage of memory etc.  3) Resource Allocation :-  Management of available resources & allocation of resources to different users.  4) Input/Output Operation :-  Execution of input/output request involving devices & files.  5) File Management or Manipulation :-  Executing request for read , write , rename or delete the data file as well as file management services.  6) Accounting :-  Maintaining accounts of uses of the resources by different users & generating usable table.  7) Security :-  Providing protection to program & data & to ensure data security.   

An operating system is the actual software that controls the allocation and use of a computer's hardware. It keeps components working in unison, acting as a communicator between the user, the computer's hardware and software.