HNDIT1032

Computer and
Network Systems

Week 09- Software &

Operating System
 Introduction
• The computer, as a machine, can do nothing
for you without the software.
• Software is required for the functioning of
computer.
• Software programs instruct computer about
the actions to be performed, so as to get the
desired output.
 Software
• A computer system consists of hardware and
software.
• Software is a set of programs that instructs
the computer about the tasks to be
performed.
• Software tells the computer how the tasks are
to be performed; hardware carries out these
tasks.
 Types of Software
• Software can be broadly classified in two
categories:
– System Software.
– Application Software.
 System Software
• The purposes of the system software are:
– To provide basic functionality to computer,
– To control computer hardware, and
– To act as an interface between user, application
software and computer hardware.
 Categories of System Software
• On the basis of their functionality, system
software may be broadly divided into two
categories
– Management and functionality of computer.
– Development of application software
Categories of System Software
 Application Software
• The software that a user uses for
accomplishing a specific task is the
application software.
• Application software may be a single program
or a set of programs.
• A set of programs that are written for a
specific purpose and provide the required
functionality is called software package.
Examples of Application Software
• Word Processing Software
• Image Processing Software
• Accounting Software
• Spreadsheet Software
• Presentation Software
• CAD/CAM Software
• Web Browser Software
 Software Market
• Retail Software
• OEM Software stands
• Demo Software
• Shareware
• Freeware
• Public Domain Software
• Open-Source Software
 Operating System(OS)
• Any computer system you use has an
operating system.
• The user interacts with the machine via the
operating system.
• A software on the machine interacts with the
hardware via the operating system.
• Operating system intermediates between the
hardware and the user.
View of OS
 Types of OS
• Single User and Single Task OS
• Single User and Multitasking OS
• Multiuser OS
• Multiprocessing OS
• Real Time OS
• Embedded OS
 Single User Single Task
• This is for use by a single user for a standalone
single computer for performing a single task.
• Operating system for Personal Computers (PC)
are single user OS.
• For example, if the user is editing a document,
then a document cannot be printed on the
printer simultaneously.
• Example MS DOS
 Single User Multitasking
• This is allows execution of more than one task
or process concurrently.
• The processor switches rapidly between
processes.
• For example, the user can listen to music on
the computer while writing an article using a
word processor software.
• Example Windows OS.
 Multiuser OS
• This is used in computer networks that allow
same data and applications to be accessed by
multiple users at the same time.
• Linux, UNIX, and Windows are examples of
multi user OS.
 Multiprocessing OS
• This have two or more processors for a single
running process.
• Processing takes place in parallel and is also
called parallel processing.
• Since execution takes place in parallel, they
are used for high speed execution, and to
increase the power of computer.
• Linux, UNIX and Windows
 Real Time OS
• Real time OS are designed to respond to an
event within a predetermined time.
• These operating systems are used to control
processes. Processing is done within a time
constraint.
• They are used to respond to queries in areas
like medical imaging system, industrial control
systems etc.
 Embedded OS
• This is embedded in a device in the ROM.
• They are specific to a device and are less
resource intensive.
• They are used in appliances like microwaves,
washing machines, traffic control systems etc.
 Functions of OS
• Process Management
• Memory Management
• File Management
• Device Management
• Protection & Security
• Communication
• User Interface
 Process Management
• A process is a program in a state of execution.
• A process can be created, executed, and stopped.
• To accomplish a task, a process needs to have
access to different system resources like I/O
devices, CPU, memory etc.
• The process management function of an
operating system handles allocation of resources
to the processes in an efficient manner.
 Memory Management
• In a computer, there may be multiple
processes executing at the same time.
• Memory management is one of the tasks
handled by the operating system.
• Memory management schemes handle the
allocation of memory to different processes.
• Paging,Virtual memory
 Virtual Memory
• A computer can address more memory than
the amount physically installed on the
system.
• This extra memory is actually called virtual
memory and it is a section of a hard disk
that's set up to emulate the computer's RAM.
 File Management
• The file management function of the
operating system involves handling the file
system which consists of two parts—a set of
files, and a directory structure.
• File is a collection of related information, has
a name, and is stored on a secondary storage.
• It is the smallest named unit that can be
written to a secondary storage device.
 Device Management
• An operating system communicates with the
devices controllers with the help of device
drivers while allocating the device to the
various processes running on the computer
system.
• Device drivers are the software programs that
are used by an operating system to control the
functioning of various devices in a uniform
manner.
 Protection & Security
• User accounts—individual accounts for user
Authentication—using password protection
• Access rights—define rights for access of
different kind of information for different
• people.
• Data encryption—store data
 User Interface(UI)
• The primary goal of operating system is to
make the computer convenient for use by its
user.
• It should allow users to easily access and
communicate with the applications and the
hardware.
 Types of UI
• The users can interact with the computer by
using mainly two kinds of interfaces
– Command Line Interface (CLI)
– Graphical User Interface (GUI)
 Command Line Interface
• CLI requires the user to interact with
operating system in the form of text keyed in
from the keyboard.
• In this, the user has to learn and remember
the different commands required for copying,
deleting, opening a file or folder etc.
• Example MS-DOS & Linux shell
Example- MS-DOS
 Graphical User Interface
• The interface consists of icons, menus,
windows, and pointers.
• The user need not learn the commands,
instead, the user can give instructions by
moving the pointer on the screen using a
mouse and pressing the mouse button
• MS Windows, Linux, Mac OS
Example-GUI
 Examples of OS
• Ms DOS
• Windows 11
• Linux
• Mac OS
• Android
• IOS
 MS-DOS
• MS-DOS was the first widely-installed operating
system for PCs in 1980s.
• MS-DOS is easy to load and install. It neither
requires much memory for the operating
system, nor a very powerful computer to run on.
• MS-DOS is a command line user interface
operating system. This means that the user has
to type single line commands through the
command interface.
 Windows OS
• Windows is a personal computer operating system
from Microsoft.
• The Windows family of OS which is currently in use
includes the Windows 9x family (Windows 95,
Windows 98 and Windows 2000), Windows XP,
Windows Vista, and Windows 7,8,11 operating
systems.
• Windows family of OS is GUI-based operating
system. Since GUI interfaces are easy to use and are
user-friendly, these have become very popular.
 Linux OS
• Linux is a 32-bit, multi-tasking OS. It supports
multiple users and multiple processors.
• Linux is a reliable and secure OS, and is
available almost for free. So, Linux is fast
becoming very popular and powerful OS.
• Linux OS is easily available, such as Redhat
Linux ver. 9, and, Debian∙s—
Ubuntu,Kubuntu, and Edubuntu.
Example-Linux OS
 MacOS
• MacOS is a Unix operating system developed
and marketed by Apple Inc since 2001.
• It is the primary operating system for Apple's
Mac computers.
• Within the market of desktop and laptop
computers it is the second most widely used
desktop OS.
Mobile OS
 References
• Clements, A., The Principles of Computer
Hardware, Oxford University Press (4th Ed),
2006.