OPERATING SYSTEM SERVICES

Operating systems are responsible for providing essential services within a computer system:
Initial loading of programs and transfer of programs between secondary storage and main memory

• Program execution – system capability to load a program into memory and to run it.
  
• I/O operations – since user programs cannot execute I/O operations directly, the operating system must provide some means to perform I/O.
  
• File-system manipulation – program capability to read, write, create, and delete files.
  
• Communications – exchange of information between processes executing either on the same computer or on different systems tied together by a network. Implemented via shared memory or message passing.
  
• Error detection – ensure correct computing by detecting errors in the CPU and memory hardware, in I/O devices, or in user programs.