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A Beginner's Guide to Operating Systems: What Is an OS and What Does It Do?

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The article is an introductory educational post inspired by the book 'Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces' (OSTEP), sharing the author's learning journey with readers. An operating system (OS) is software, not hardware, that must be installed on a device to manage its components. Its core functions include organizing hardware resources, launching and monitoring programs, fairly distributing RAM among running applications, and acting as an intermediary between software and physical hardware. The OS achieves all of this simultaneously through a concept called virtualization, which creates a virtual environment that hides hardware complexity from programs. The author plans to explain virtualization in detail in a follow-up post.

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A Beginner's Guide to Operating Systems: What Is an OS and What Does It Do? · ShortSingh