Operating System Fundamentals
As recently as the 1970s most computer machines were bulky, i.e., room-sized, slow and used punch cards as a primary data input tool. In addition, anyone wanting to use a computer had to navigate a complex, uninviting interface with only a keyboard to help them. As computer technology has evolved towards the modern personal computer, it became smaller, more powerful and popular for home and business use. The ever improving operating systems that are use to interact with these computer is one of the key reasons for the acceleration of computer usage over the last decade. Computers require programmed code, called software programs to run, and they require an input-output mechanism to allow users to give the machine instructions and view the results of those commands. As computer hardware has improved, software has improved with it.