In the 1960s, operating systems were developed to help overcome this problem. An operating system consists of an integrated collection of system programs that control the functions of the CPU, input and output, and storage facilities of the system. This portion of the operating system is often referred to as the supervisor, monitor, executive, or resource manager. By performing these tasks, the operating system provides an interface between the user or the application program and the computer hardware. The picture below shows the relationship among the user, operating system, and computer hardware.
Last Updated Aug 25/99