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Layered view of a computer

An operating system helps us to use computers in many ways. However, we are not usually concerned about the OS instructs the hardware to perform certain tasks. The functions performed by an OS are generally transparent or invisible to us.

Different types of software are like the layers of an onion surrounding the central core, the computer hardware (see FIG 1). Users have different views of the computer. Most users only the layer immediately below.

Fig 1 : The layered of a computer. The layers are rather like an onion!

The end user only sees the applications packages as ‘the computer’. He is only concerned with the applications programme for the specific tasks being undertaken. He is not concern about the hardware specific of the computer.

The application programmer sees the compiler for his high-level programming language as 'the computer'.

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