CODEWITHSUNDEEP
operating-systemopenbsd
Ko Ichi
Ko Ichi

Reputation: 167

In what language are OS programmed

This question may sound stupid but i couldn't find a real answer so here it is:

In what programming language are OSs programmed?
In what language is OpenBSD programmed?
Can you programm and operating in every scripting language (Ruby, Python,...etc)?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 373

Answers (1)

darth happyface
darth happyface

Reputation: 2757

Most operating systems are programmed in C. Some parts of some operating systems may use C++ or Objective C as well. Also, operating systems must have some assembly in them.

Although you can theoretically program parts of an OS in a scripting language, it would not be so easy. At least some of the OS would need to be compiled to native code. However, the operating system might have a built in interpreter for a scripting language or virtual machine for bytecode. Then you could write, for example, device drivers in the scripting language, where the driver presents a certain interface to the OS. You could also maybe write scheduling policies, paging systems, etc. in the scripting language. Basically your scripting language would provide a nice way to quickly prototype and test new modules and OS concepts. However, I wouldn't recommend such a system for production environment because you usually take a performance hit with the types of languages that you mention.

I am not aware of any operating system that uses anything like this. I am vaguely aware that some research OSes have been developed that used similar ideas, though I can't name any off the top of my head.

Upvotes: 3

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