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Getting Started with The Properties of OS

Home Articles Getting Started with The Properties of OS

Operating System creates an interface between the user and the computer programs. It is a collection of codes which offers various services and facilities for the multiple activities of the computer system. Along with enjoying the various facilities of the operating system, we have several characteristics of OS.

Let us have a look at the features and the properties of the operating system:


The technique in which an OS collects the data and the programs collectively in a batch before its processing is the property of batch handling. The OS has to perform the following activities related to the batch processing feature:

a)    Operating System collects the various jobs which have the predefined data, programs and the commands batched in the single unit.
b)    Keeping the number of jobs in memory and executing them without any manual information is one of the properties of the operating system.
c)    Handles the first come and first serve a purpose. Processes the jobs in their submission order.
d)    The memory of the job is released when a job has completed its execution. Also, after the implementation of the jobs, the output of the jobs gets copied into an output wind for later processing or printing.


1.    It enhances the performance of the system. It starts a new job as soon as the previous job gets finished. It does not intervene in the process manually.
2.    The property of the operating system takes the operator to the computer.


1.    In this task, sometimes the debugging the programs becomes difficult.
2.    Under some conditions, a job can enter an infinite loop
3.    One batch job can affect other pending jobs, due to the lack of the protection scheme.


When the CPU executes the multiple jobs simultaneously with the help of the switching technique, it is called multitasking. Being a user, you can’t notice when the switch happens in the process. It takes place so frequently that you can interact with each program while it is running. The operating system ha to perform the following activities concerning multitasking:

a)    The operating system which delivers the multitasking tasks is called the time-sharing systems.
b)    Being a user, you give instructions to the operating system to process it. The operating system is responsible for providing an immediate response to your query.
c)    Executing the multiple programs at the same time and handling numerous operations is what an OS do. These are a few tasks for controlling the multitasking process.
d)    The primary motive for the development of the operating system is the interaction of the computer system at a reasonable cost.
e)    The multitasking properties of an operating system use the CPU scheduling concept along with the multiprogramming of the tasks given by the user. OS uses only a small portion of a time-shared CPU.
f)    There is one separate program in memory for each user.
g)    The process is a program which the CPU loads into memory and executes.
h)    The process, when executed, uses it only for short duration. It uses until it finishes or needs to perform the input/output.
i)    The process which takes a long time to complete is of the interactive input/output. It is because it runs at slow speeds. In the meantime, the operating system utilises the CPU for some other process.
j)    Sharing the computer simultaneously and allowing the user to access it is the outcome of the development of an operating system. Every user needs the CPU for a short duration of time because each action or command in a time-shared operation takes a small amount of time.
k)    There is only one CPU which multiple users share. Sometimes the user gets the impression that the user has his CPU. But it is just that the system switches from one program to the next swiftly.


Multiprogramming is the assumption of a single-shared processor. Multiprogramming is the sharing of the processors by two or more programs which are residing in the secondary memory at the same time. The result of this property of the operating system increases the utilization of CPU. It is the outcome of the organization of the jobs for the execution of the job at least one at a time.

The list of the activities related to multiprogramming has the following elements:

1.    It keeps many jobs at a time in the memory location
2.    The job pool has the subset of the various jobs which the CPU maintains
3.    Picking and beginning the execution of one of the jobs in the memory is the work of the operating system of the computer.
4.    Monitoring the state and the condition of the system resources and the active programs with the help of the management of the memory programs is what the essential function of the operating system. It also ensures that the CPU always have a job to perform. It is never idle. Yes, when there might not be any job to perform, the CPU will not do anything.


a)    Efficient and high utilization of the CPU
b)    Allocation of the CPU to multiple users


a)    The need of the CPU scheduling
b)    Need for the accommodation of several jobs in memory, memory management.
The ability of the interaction of the user with the computer system is termed as interactivity. Activities related to the interactivity which the operating system performs are-
a)    Management of the input devices for taking the inputs from the user. For example, Keyboard
b)    Make available the interface for the interaction with the system done by the operating system.
c)    Manages all the output devices.


The dedicated and the embedded systems of a computer come under the real-time systems. The activities which an OS performs are as follows-
a)    Reads and react to the sensor data
b)    Responses to the events for the assurance of the correct performance.


When there are multiple independent CPUs or the processors in a system, it is referred to a distributed environment. The tasks and the functions which are related to the distribution of the system:
a)    Distribution of the computational logic among many physical processors
b)    Every processor is equipped with its memory. That is why the processors don’t share it.
c)    The operating system does Even the management of the communications of the processors. The communication lines are the medium for the conversation.


The opposite of the simultaneous peripheral operations online is called spooling. Or in other words, putting the data in a buffer is called as spooling. Don’t know what a buffer is? It is a particular area in the hard disk or the memory which the I/O devices access.

Activities of the operating system to be performed using its property of spooling are as follows-
a)    Maintenance of the buffer to provide rest to the device.
b)    Handles the input and the output devices and provide them different access rates.
c)    The operating system can maintain the computation in the parallel form as of the spooling process.


a)    The system uses a large buffer for the operation.
b)    It also overlaps the operation of the input and the output for one job over another with the processor operations.
This was about the myriad features of the operating systems. In the next blog, you will learn about the processes and their scheduling.

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