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Comment by jiggy2011 | Hacker News Reader

jiggy2011

Computers and especially software are really difficult to explain because of the sheer amount of abstraction involved, it doesn't help that software often presents abstractions to users that do not reflect the underlying mechanism.

You will tend to find misconceptions about things very commonly amongst even people who work in IT as their livelihood. If you ask 100 mechanics how a 4 stroke engine works you're likely to get approximately the same answer. Ask 100 IT people or developers what an operating system does and you'll get 100 different ones.

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> Ask 100 IT people or developers what an operating system does and you'll get 100 different ones

An operating system represents the abstraction layer between hardware and software applications, its purpose being to provide on userlevel the APIs needed for efficient interaction with hardware. Modern operating systems also provide higher-level components or services that apps can reuse, plus bundled junk because an OS is perfect for achieving vendor lock-in and for shoving apps and services down on people's throats, being a natural monopoly that can be easily abused.

I learned the above in high-school. Of course, just like in any other profession and industry, you'll get 100 different answers because many "IT people" are simply incompetent.

Your own explanation admits that the problem of defining an operating system is that a modern OS bundles a bunch of stuff that has nothing to do with an operating system.

I don't think the attitude that people are "incompetent" because they don't have the same definition as you is helpful.

My attitude is not towards normal people that aren't technically knowledgeable - they have other problems to worry about and technology is meant to make their lives easier, not harder.

But people being paid for being IT-knowledgeable have no excuse for not knowing things as basic as what an OS is. And they do exist, I've met them. Imagine being treated by medical personnel that do not know where the vital organs are or their basic function.

Ask them about the 4stroke and you get even more differences.

Suck squish bang blow.

Was hoping someone would say this. I would love for someone more clever than I am to come up with the OS equivalent.

Suck the money out of your wallet

squish 10 gigs of shovelware and trialware and just junk onto the hard drive

bang it crashes and needs reinstallation on a regular basis

blow. windows blows.

Input, output, store, retrieve.

Or maybe Input, store, retrieve, output, which is a little cuter.

push, pop, thrash, swap

Malloc, push, shebang, go slow

Some ideas:

Isolate, abstract, interface.

Devices, memory, file-systems, processes.

fork, malloc, open, read, write.

With something like that it's easier to know how much you know. I could probably give a reasonable description of it, I might get some specifics wrong or not be able to go into as much detail as someone more knowledgeable but at least it wouldn't be completely insane.

I probably have more misconceptions about computers that I'm not even aware of.

Very specific "Gimmie informal explanation of the otto cycle" vs incredibly wide OS request.

A better matched question for the mechanic would be wide like "explain what an engine computer does. All of them. Ever."

Or a better matched question for the IT people would be narrow like "How do mice connect to computers?" aka PS/2, USB, bluetooth, maybe inport and RS232 serial if you're of a certain age...

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