OS Kernel

Definitions

1. The core component of an operating system that runs in privileged (ring 0) mode and manages hardware resources — CPU scheduling, memory management, device drivers, and system calls — providing the interface between user-space applications and the physical machine.

   In plain English: The innermost part of an operating system that controls the hardware and decides how programs share the computer's resources.

   Example: "The kernel OOM-killed our Java process at 3 AM because it was the biggest memory consumer and the host was out of RAM."

Related Terms

• Kernel Space
• Linux Kernel
• Memory Layout
• Memory Segment
• Memory Zeroing
• Microkernel
• Real-Time System
• Systemd
• User Space
• Virtual File System
• X11
• Kernel Hacker
• Linux Distro
• Linux Distribution