What's an Operating System?

 -- interface between user and hardware

 -- e.g. Windows, Linux, Unix, OS X
         Jaguar, Solaris, DOS, MS-DOS


 What services does an
 Operating System provide?
 -- interface between user and hardware
 -- organization (menus, menu trees)
 -- filesystem (folders, files, shortcuts)
 -- stable platform for running software
 -- compatibility across os-es
 -- etc.!



 IDE (Integrated Development Env)
 -- Microsoft Visual Studio .NET
 -- Cygwin (Linux-like interface on Windows)
 -- text editor / compiler (g++)
 -- Eclipse
 -- etc.