OS : Java Glossary

* 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z (all)

OS

An OS (Operating System) is an MCP (Master Control Program) in a computer. It has many jobs.

Handling the details of the hardware: hard disk, screen, keyboard, printer etc. to simplify the job of the application programmers.
Keep different apps running at the same time from inadvertently interfering with each other.
Allocating resources such as CPU (Central Processing Unit) cycles, disk space and RAM (Random Access Memory) to dynamically changing purposes.
Handling calculations common to many different programs, e.g. 2D and 3D drawing, calendar calculations, display dates, times, currency in localised formats.

The following table of OS es includes the OS es I talk about on this site. It contains only a tiny fraction of the OS es in existence. They are ordered roughly primitive to advance, early to current.

OSes
OS es Mentioned on this Site
Name	Notes
MCP	An early OS for Burroughs mainframes. Even though it ran in microscopic RAM and on glacially slow CPU s, in many ways it was more advanced that the OS es in use today. The movie Tron makes reference it.
CPM (Cost Per thousand/Mille impressions)	Digital Research wrote the main OS of the first 8-bit microcomputers for the 8080, Z80 etc.
DOS (Disk Operating System)	DOS the main OS of the first 16-bit XT home computers for the 8088.
Windows 3.1	The first usable Microsoft GUI-based OS for AT (Advanced Technology) 16-bit 80286 computers.
OS/2	IBM’ first protected mode OS for the AT 16 bit 80286 computers.
Windows 95	The first Microsoft GUI-based OS for 32-bit 80386 computers.
Windows 98	Microsoft GUI-based OS for 32-bit 80386 computers.
Windows Me	Microsoft GUI-based OS for 32-bit 80386 computers.
Windows NT	Microsoft OS for 32-bit Pentium computers
Windows 2000	Microsoft GUI-based OS for 32-bit Pentium computers.
Windows 2003	Microsoft GUI-based OS for 32-bit Pentium computers.
Windows XP	Microsoft GUI-based OS for 32-bit Pentium computers.
Windows Vista	Microsoft GUI-based OS for 32/64-bit Pentium computers.
Windows 7	The Microsoft GUI-based OS for 32/64-bit Pentium computers.
Linux	free, opensource, mostly runs on 32/64-bit Pentium computers.
Unix	A family of OS es, customised to pretty much any computer ever built. Sometimes free, sometimes expensive. Linux is one of the Unix family.
Mac OS/9	for Apple MAC (Media Access Control). Apple first used Motorola 608K CPU s, then switched to RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer), then to Intel-based CPUs (Central Processing Units). Their OS was designed to run code of all three types using emulation.
Mac OS X	The OS Apple now uses for its Macs. It too is a type of Unix.

Windows
Windows 2000
Windows 2003
Windows 7
Windows 9
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows CE
Windows ME
Windows NT

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