AS Computer Science 5.1 Operating Systems

CMOS

Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor

Operating system

software that provides an environment in which applications can run and provides an interface between hardware and human operators

HCI

human-computer interface

GUI

graphical user interface

CLI

command line interface

WIMP

windows, icons, menu and pointing device

Post-WIMP

interfaces that go beyond WIMP and use touch screen technology rather than a pointing device

Memory management

part of the operating system that controls the main memory

Memory optimisation

function of memory management that determines how memory is allocated and deallocated

Memory organisation

function of memory management that determines how much memory is allocated to an application

Security management

part of the operating system that ensures the integrity, confidentiality and availability of data

Contiguous

items next to each other

Virtual memory systems

memory management that makes use of hardware and software to enable a computer to compensate for shortage of actual physical memory