Why is the software needed in computer systems? Mention the role of system software. Discuss the functionalities of the operating system.

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Suresh Chand · Accepted Answer

Software not only makes your computer hardware perform important tasks but can also help your business work more efficiently. The right software can even lead to new ways of working. It is therefore a crucial business asset and you should choose your software carefully so that it matches your business needs. Software plays a very pivotal role in our computer systems today. The functions, the computer performs are a result of software, the computer is able to perform a wide range of functions, without software all we would have will be hardware components unable to do anything. systems applications also provide us with a large range of functionality, an example of a system application is windows OS, which serves as a platform for other software to run. Role of System Software: 'System Software' can be designed as the software in such a way that it can control and work with computer hardware. 'System software' organizes the activities and functions of hardware and software, and it supervises the operations of computer hardware. 'It acts as an interface between the device and the end-users. It also provides the platform for the running of other software. Examples: Operating systems, antivirus software, computational science software, game engines, industrial automation, etc. An operating system is a program on which application programs are executed and acts as a communication bridge (interface) between the user and the computer hardware. Important functions of an operating System: 1. Security: The operating system uses password protection to protect user data and similar other techniques. it also prevents unauthorized access to programs and user data. 2. Control over system performance: Monitors overall system health to help improve performance. records the response time between service requests and system response to having a complete view of the system's health. This can help improve performance by providing important information needed to troubleshoot problems. 3. Job accounting: The operating system Keeps track of time and resources used by various tasks and users, this information can be used to track resource usage for a particular user or group of users. 4. Error detecting aids: The operating system constantly monitors the system to detect errors and avoid the malfunctioning of a computer system. 5. Coordination between other software and users: Operating systems also coordinate and assign interpreters, compilers, assemblers, and other software to the various users of the computer systems. 6. Memory Management: The operating system manages the Primary Memory or Main Memory. Main memory is made up of a large array of bytes or words where each byte or word is assigned a certain address. Main memory is fast storage and it can be accessed directly by the CPU. For a program to be executed, it should be first loaded into the main memory. An Operating System performs the following activities for memory management: It keeps track of primary memory, i.e., which bytes of memory are used by which user program. The memory addresses that have already been allocated and the memory addresses of the memory that has not yet been used. In multiprogramming, the OS decides the order in which processes are granted access to memory, and for how long. It Allocates the memory to a process when the process requests it and deallocates the memory when the process has terminated or is performing an I/O operation. 7. Processor Management: In a multi-programming environment, the OS decides the order in which processes have access to the processor, and how much processing time each process has. This function of OS is called process scheduling. An Operating System performs the following activities for processor management. Keeps track of the status of processes. The program which performs this task is known as a traffic controller. Allocates the CPU that is a processor to a process. De-allocates processor when a process is no more required. 8. Device Management: An OS manages device communication via its respective drivers. It performs the following activities for device management. Keeps track of all devices connected to the system. designates a program responsible for every device known as the Input/Output controller. Decides which process gets access to a certain device and for how long. Allocates devices in an effective and efficient way. Deallocates devices when they are no longer required. 9. File Management: A file system is organized into directories for efficient or easy navigation and usage. These directories may contain other directories and other files. An Operating System carries out the following file management activities. It keeps track of where information is stored, user access settings and status of every file, and more… These facilities are collectively known as the file system.

Why is the software needed in computer systems? Mention the role of system software. Discuss the functionalities of the operating system.

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Why is the software needed in computer systems? Mention the role of system software. Discuss the functionalities of the operating system.

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