CG: n
CT: An operating system is the most important software that runs on a computer. It manages the computer’s memory and processes, as well as all of its software and hardware. It also allows you to communicate with the computer without knowing how to speak the computer’s language. Without an operating system, a computer is useless.
Your computer’s operating system (OS) manages all of the software and hardware on the computer. Most of the time, there are several different computer programs running at the same time, and they all need to access your computer’s central processing unit (CPU), memory, and storage. The operating system coordinates all of this to make sure each program gets what it needs.
S: GCF – https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/computerbasics/understanding-operating-systems/1/ (last access: 12 December 2020)
N: 1. – operating (adj): First Known Use of operating: 1728; from present participle of OPERATE; of, relating to, or used for or in operations.
– system (n): 1610s, “the whole creation, the universe,” from Late Latin systema “an arrangement, system,” from Greek systema “organized whole, a whole compounded of parts,” from stem of synistanai “to place together, organize, form in order,” from syn- “together” + root of histanai “cause to stand,” from PIE root *sta- “to stand, make or be firm.”
Meaning “set of correlated principles, facts, ideas, etc.” first recorded 1630s. Meaning “animal body as an organized whole, sum of the vital processes in an organism” is recorded from 1680s; hence figurative phrase to get (something) out of one’s system (1900). Computer sense of “group of related programs” is recorded from 1963. All systems go (1962) is from U.S. space program. The system “prevailing social order” is from 1806.
. Operating system in the computer sense is from 1961.
. Standardized abbreviation: OS.
2. Operating system (OS), program that manages a computer’s resources, especially the allocation of those resources among other programs. Typical resources include the central processing unit (CPU), computer memory, file storage, input/output (I/O) devices, and network connections. Management tasks include scheduling resource use to avoid conflicts and interference between programs. Unlike most programs, which complete a task and terminate, an operating system runs indefinitely and terminates only when the computer is turned off.
3. An operating system must have a policy for choosing the order in which competing users are served and for resolving conflicts of simultaneous requests for the same resources; it must also have means of enforcing this policy in spite of the presence of erroneous or malicious user programs.
4. Although operating systems are predominantly software, partial hardware implementations are possible.
5. Operating system; OS: term and abbreviation standardized by CSA and ISO/IEC.
S: 1. MW – https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/operating?src=search-dict-box (last access: 12 December 2020); OED – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=operating+system (last access: 12 December 2020). 2. EncBrit – https://www.britannica.com/technology/operating-system (last access: 12 December 2020). 3. CIT – https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.5555/540365 (last access: 12 December 2020). 4&5. TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=operating+system&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 12 December 2020).
SYN: OS, command system, executive system.
S: TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=operating+system&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 12 December 2020).
CR: interface
