System Programs are the collection of software required for program execution. They are also known as system utilities. System programs can be simple, involving only system calls as well as complex ones.
Types of system programs in os
There are six major categories into which system programs are divided. These include –File management, status information, file modification, Programming Language supporters, Program Loading and Execution, and Communications.
File Management
These are the programs to perform various operations in files. These operations include create, delete, copy, manipulate or rename files and directories.
Status Information
These are the programs that ask for information such as date and time, number of users, or other information. These are the programs that either copy this information to a file or in a graphical user interface, display it on the screen. The registry is also involved in those that are used to provide configuration-related information.
File Modification
These are the programs that are used to work with the files. These include programs such as text editors that are used to create or modify the contents of the file or perform operations such as searching and replacing the contents of the file.
Programming Language supporters
Assemblers, loaders, linkers, and compilers are also provided by the operating system. These are generally used by programmers or people that have a good programming language.
Program Loading and Execution
These include a set of programs that are required for the execution of programs. Programs are loaded into the main memory and then loaders, linkage editors, and other programs are required to perform the execution. In some cases, debugging systems are also provided.
Communications
These are the programs that are used to maintain a connection between two or more users or two or different systems. They allow users to share information or even big files. This is done widely through the use of the internet and electronic sharing systems.
Other than these programs there are many other programs that are used in an operating system such as access, web browsers, text formatters, games, video or audio players, and many others. Some of these are provided by default after installing the operating system while most of them need to be downloaded from the internet. The programs are divided into categories on the basis of their licensing also. As some of them are free to use and provided easily by their distributors and some need a license key to use them. There is also a variety of open-source applications that the user can use and modify and provide their modifications to the authority.
