Comparison chart
Kernel versus Shell comparison chart
 | Kernel | Shell |
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| Type of program | A kernel is a low level program interfacing with the hardware (CPU, RAM, disks, network, ...) on top of which applications are running. It is the lowest level program. |
A shell is a command interpreter, i.e. the program that either process the command you enter in your terminal emulator (interactive mode) or process shell scripts (text files containing commands) (batch mode |
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| what it does? | Kernel Runs the Allocation and De-allocation Process. Maintains a Time table for all the Processes |
It interprets the commands the user types in and arranges for them to be carried out. The commands are themselves programs: when they terminate, the shell gives the user another prompt. |
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| what is it actually? | heart of operating systems |
shell is simply a software the gives a user interface |
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| types | Micro and Monolithic kernels. Hybrid kernels. exo kernels |
1.Korn shell , 2.Bourne Shell , 3. C shell , 4.POSIX shell |
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| functions | 1. Memory Managemen 2. Process Management 3.Disk and File System Management 4. Networking Security 5.Graphical User Interface (GUI) 6.Device Driver Management |
1.command aliasing & history , 2. file name substitution, 3.piping, 4.shell variable substitution |
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About the Author
Nick Jasuja
has over 15 years of technology industry experience, including at Amazon in Seattle. He is an expert at building websites, developing software programs in PHP and JavaScript, maintaining MySQL and PostgreSQL databases, and running Linux servers for serving high-traffic websites. He has a bachelor's degree in Computer Science & Engineering.
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