The diagram below shows the relationship between hardware, the operating system and application software. (a) Explain why application software cannot commun...
Question 1 Report
The diagram below shows the relationship between hardware, the operating system and application software.
(a) Explain why application software cannot communicate directly with hardware without an operating system. [2]
(b) State two examples of application software. [2]
(c) Give one example of how the operating system acts as an intermediary between the application and the hardware. [2]
Answer Details
(a) Application software is written to perform user tasks and does not contain instructions for controlling specific hardware devices [1]. The operating system provides a standard interface/API that applications use to request hardware services, abstracting away the complexity of different hardware [1] (b) Any two from: - Word processor [1] - Spreadsheet [1] - Web browser [1] - Image editor [1] - Presentation software [1] (c) Any one fully described: - When a user prints a document from a word processor, the application sends the print request to the operating system, which communicates with the printer using the correct device driver [1+1] - When a game needs to display graphics, it sends instructions to the operating system, which passes them to the graphics card via the graphics driver [1+1]
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