Operating environment

Operating environment is the interaction of a computer system with a user. There must be a means of communication between the system and the user – the user interface – and between the system hardware and the software.

Software – all the programs that can be run on a computer hardware.

It can be divided into:

• system software – controls the basic functions of the computer (operating systems, programming software, etc.)
• application software – lets us do specific jobs such as writing letters, doing calculations, drawing or playing games.

The user interface provides the means of communication between the user and the computer system. It consists of cursors, prompts, icons, menus, etc.