Software
What is software?
Software is a collection of instructions that enable the user to interact with a computer or have it perform specific tasks for them.
Operating System
An operating system, sometimes called a platform is a collection of programs that control the hardware in a system or device.
Examples of operating systems:
Examples of operating systems:
- Windows - a powerful multi-tasking operating system, created by Microsoft.
It provides a graphical user interface(GUI).
- UNIX - a robust and stable operating system used in servers and workstations. Traditionally a command line interface, but there are many user interfaces developed to run on top of UNIX such as:
- MacOSX - Apples own proprietary OS, based on UNIX and IOS used on their MAC computers.
- Linux - A fully open-source kernel, although often not supported by many programs, is very popular because it is free and is easier to use for certain tasks related to programming. Also, there is not one Linux OS, instead there is "distros" which are all based on Linuxs kernel but are different in some aspects. Most notability their UI.
Kernel
The kernel is a program that looks after the hardware operations. For example: checking if the mouse is moved, if a key is entered, or if any new hardware is connected to the PC etc. Essentially it manages communication between the hardware in a PC.
Multitasking
Multitasking allows the PC to manage multiple tasks. For example if the CPU is busy waiting for data to be loaded from the RAM it can work on other tasks.
Programs will have several states in a multi tasking operating system.
Running- The CPU is currently dealing with this process and others must wait.
Runnable- These processes are in the queue and ready to go, and just need the running process to finish or be interrupted to run.
Waiting- These processes are not even in the queue, and may not even be in the RAM. They are waiting for space to be available in the queue.
UI
Command-line: The command line used to be the most popular for of UI, only because it was the only one available due to computers not having enough power to generate graphic images. You navigate the file structure and perform tasks with commands that you type in. Such as typing in run "file" would run the file.
Some die hard programmers still use the command line because the believe it is faster and easier to use (one thing to note is that for application developers it is a lot easier to create a program that only uses the command line than one that has a GUI). In some modern operating systems IE Linux you need to use the command line to perform many basic tasks. Such as installing software and unpacking files.
GUI: A graphical user interface is now the most popular form of UIs simply because it is easier and nicer to look at for most people. A GUI is (usually) navigated with a mouse, to click on icons and navigate etc, and a keyboard, to input data.
A GUI is used by nearly every computer user.
A great start JJ, don't forget to include the sections on GUI and command line. (Loving the dated windows OS images also). Don't forget to cite your sources for all images/information gathered and used.
ReplyDeleteI have added the stuff you wanted. All the stuff there either came from things I learned in lessons or from my own knowledge. So there is no need to cite any sources. I have made the image link to its source so I guess that gives credit.
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