Meet the House keeper

On an average computer, there are several software packages. By this, I mean the likes of Apple store, Safari, Slack, Spotify, etc. as seen in the picture below. These packages don't just work out of the box; without the operating system managing the system processes, and other important software like the boot loader¹ that helps to start up the computer, they cannot be downloaded or used. There's a lot more technical detail regarding Operating Systems, feel free to do some external reading to suit your interest.

The operating system is, perhaps, the most important software that a computer runs; it manages the computer's hardware, software, memory, and processes. You can't see it like the other software packages that you use, but it operates beneath them all.

The operating system belongs to a category of software called System software, while the other category includes all forms of software that you interact with daily as a conventional computer user; this category is known as Application software.

Other examples of system software include Compilers and Interpreters², which were introduced in module one.

Application software refers to the tools we use every day — things like web browsers, word processors, and image viewers.

1. A small program that acts as an intermediary between the hardware and the Operating System ↩

2. https://www.quora.com/Why-do-some-people-consider-compiler-to-be-a-system-software ↩