What is the function of an operating system?

The function of an operating system is to manage hardware and software resources on a computer. This involves acting as an intermediary between the user and the computer hardware, allowing for effective use of system resources such as the CPU, memory, storage devices, and input/output devices. The operating system handles tasks such as process management, memory management, device management, and file system management, ensuring that the various hardware components work together efficiently and that applications can run without conflict.

While applications do run on the operating system, the operating system's role encompasses much more than just running applications. It coordinates the interactions between different software programs and the hardware. Additionally, providing networking capabilities and storing user data securely are specific functions that may be features of an operating system, but they do not define its primary role. Networking capabilities, for instance, is one of the many functions that depend on the operating system's management of hardware resources to enable communication over networks. Similarly, secure data storage is a function that operates within the broader framework of how an operating system manages files and permissions.