The operating systems item

Sep 16 20:37 UTC 2006

Operating systems are the software that make computer hardware go.  They
control the hardware and provide abstractions that, in conjunction with
programming languages, enable programmers to write applications that make
the computer useful.  Most *systems* have operating systems, even if most
computers (that show up in things like thermostats, smoke detectors, and
the like) do not.

Operating systems have long been a topic of study for computer scientists
and software developers alike.  There are different ways of constructing
them, organizing them, defining what they handle and do not, etc.

Here is the place to ask about them in the general sense.