Operating Systems Introduction, v4.0
© Copyright Brian Brown, 1988-2000. All rights reserved.
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Course Objectives
This free courseware is a brief introduction to "What is an Operating System" and how an operating system works. It is a self-paced self-study guide that is free for you to access, print out and reference. By the end of this module, you should be able to

• define an operating system
• be able to use windows and UNIX
• understand what an operating system does
• understand the terms process, scheduling, memory and file management
• know the difference between a process and a thread
• understand how a file is managed by an operating system
• know the difference between editors, compilers, linkers, assembers and debuggers
• appreciate how programs are assembled together using libraries
• list the features of a graphical windows operating system

Work through each of the sections at your own pace. Try to spend an hour a day reading the material, doing any exercises involved.

Other material you might wish to view could include

• computer architecture and terminology
• revision of MSDOS
• introduction to UNIX
• introduction to Windows95

Restrictions on Use
You are free to reference this material on-line and print out copies for personal use. You may not copy it, distribute it, or make it available over the Internet or reproduce it in any other form, printed or electronic for others to access without permission from the author. Educators are free to store the files locally on their own network and to print as many copies as needed for their students, as long as the original copyright remains intact. Mirroring of this learning guide is available for Universities free of charge. Please order the CD-ROM to obtain all the latest versions of the on-line courseware and support this free on-line learning initiative.