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Your valid program is still a system that operates your hardware directly. So, still an OS?


An OS, by general definition, usually contains the ability to launch applications developed for it, using the high-level API’s the OS provides to greatly simplify low-level hardware functionality, such as playing sound or displaying images.

A program, by definition, is a running system which executes specific instruction sets, whether this is from a low-level, no-OS setup, such as an NES, or a MacOS program which makes extensive use of Core Image, Core Animation, Core Audio, et cetera.

These are both programs. But only one of them actually runs in an OS.


This is a "bare metal" program, not an operating system.




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