What is an Operating System (OS)? | Definition from TechTarget
Summary
This vastly reduces the amount of time and coding required to develop and debug an application, while ensuring that users can control, configure and manage system software and hardware through a common and well-understood OS interface. All major computer platforms -- both hardware and software -- typically require and include an OS that must be developed with different features to meet the specific needs of various device form factors. The user can interact with the computer to do work either through a GUI, which is a point-and-click visual screen that contains icons that trigger system functions and launch applications, a CLI, which consists of a single command line for data entry, or both. An operating system handles the launch and management of every application, which supports the following functions: • Timesharing multiple processes, or threads, so that various tasks can share the available processors resources. Mobile operating systems tend to emphasize efficient performance, user responsiveness and close attention to data handling tasks, such as supporting media streaming.