These days, the operating systems have become an important part of all the technology which we are using. Be it our laptops or computer systems or our mobile phones. To run them smoothly, we need operating systems for all of them. Be it the hardware of our laptop or mobile phones or the software, we need an operating system for running both of them. Operating systems are the set of programs that are required for providing the interface in between the different applications and the hardware of the computer systems or mobile phones. Operating systems have helped the devices to work properly and efficiently. One can easily make use of the devices with the help of the operating systems. It has also increased the performance of these different devices. In the past few years, operating systems have evolved a lot. The new operating systems are helping the advanced and modern devices by making it easier to make use of both hardware and software.

Operating Systems History

This might be surprising for many of you, but earlier the operating systems were not there. With the development of technology, operating systems have also been introduced. Earlier in the 1940s, the computer systems used to work on the programs. The users used to input these programs in the machine hardware by using the micro switches. Later on, in the year 1950, some new technologies were developed. These technologies were introduced in order to make the interaction between the user and the computer system easier.

It was in the year 1956 when the first operating system was introduced. It was introduced in order to make the IBM mainframe computer run. It was introduced by General Motors. Later on, other owners of IBM Mainframe Computer followed a similar pattern for making the operating system for their computer system. If we look at the computer systems from different generations, then they have been classified into 4 generations according to their architecture. But you should also know that the architecture of these computers is also related to the operating systems.

Like the 1st Generation Computers which were introduced in the year 1940, they did not have any operating systems. No one even thought of an operating system or would have heard about it. The digital computers at that time worked with the help of the programs only like we have mentioned above. Even there were no programming languages also at that time.

Then in the 2nd Generation, in the 1950s some improvement was brought and it was the time when the first operating systems were introduced, about which we have mentioned above. It was introduced for IBM 701. At that time there was the single-stream batch processing system. It was because the users used to submit data and programs in the batches or the groups.

In the 3rd Generation, in the 1960s, some advanced technologies were developed. The multiprogramming concept was introduced by the operating system designers in the 1960s. There were many new techniques which were introduced in the operating system. Due to the multiprogramming concept, several jobs were done at the same time. When a job was waiting for the Input-Output Operation, at the same time the CPU was used by another job, unlike the old operating system without the multiprogramming feature. The operating systems in the 3rd generation were made in such a way that all the programs can run at a fast speed and can get completed fast. It also made the other programs initiate and start soon which are waiting to run. The time-sharing feature was also introduced in the 3rd generation operating system. To multi-program the interactive users in large numbers, the time-sharing technique was made.

In the 4th Generation, the operating systems were used in personal computers also. This was made possible by the Large-Scale Integration Circuits Development. Some of the operating systems which were used at that time are, UNIX and MS-DOS.

At present, there are many operating systems which are in use like Linux and Microsoft Windows. For mobile phones also, we have operating systems like Android and IOS. At present, most of us are using the Windows Operating System, which was introduced in the year 1985.

There are different types of operating systems which are being used these days like Batch Operating System, Real-Time Operating System, Multiprocessing Operating System, Multitasking /Time Sharing Operating System, Network Operating System, and Mobile Operating System.

Different functions of operating systems

Operating systems do not just perform one function, but they are being used for performing various functions like:

• Helps in Managing the files – One of the important functions of the operating system is file management. With the help of this function, the operating system tries to manage all the activities related to the files. Like naming of the files, sharing of the files, organizing files, protecting files, and retrieval of files.
• Helps in memory allocation and de-allocation – With the help of the memory management function of the operating system, it helps in allocating the memory to the programs which need the space. Also, it helps in de-allocation of the memory from the programs which do not require extra memory space or which are not in work anymore. This helps a user in saving or deleting any file easily by checking the memory space available on the computer system.
• Helps in managing the processes – There are several types of processes that take place in any system. With the help of process management function of the operating system, it becomes easy for one to manage the creating or deleting of any process. One can also create easy synchronization among different processes using the process management system.
• Helps in securing the data – With the help of the operating systems, we can also keep our data secure, whether we are using it on phone or we are using it on laptop or computer systems. It also helps in protecting the data from unauthorized access. The security module is also being used for protecting the data from malware.

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