I really don’t understand how complex programs like compilers and browsers have come to an existence.

From little what I know about 8086, it resembles a digital abacus in a way that we can set, push and do all the fancy magic with registers and store them in memories using buttons.

For the like of me, I cannot figure out how an OS was created out of thin air? Do they keep pushing, adding and popping registers back in the day to create OS or compiler? What about the TTY? Was there no such thing as booting? What about file systems? Partitions? How did any of that even work in the first place?

  • @velox_vulnusOPEnglish
    1•2 months ago

    What about the existence of the “shell” utility? I know that Unix has the sh program, but before the OS-era, this wasn’t the case, right? When and how was it implemented? Is there any example of a computer before the shell era?

    • @agent_flounder@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2•2 months ago

      Not op but…

      The shell is nothing but a program that reads input and parses commands and then does the things asked and print output.

      That’s not really all that different from a Commodore 64 in concept. You could type in commands to load / save / run other programs.

      I’m glossing over a lot here. :)

      I will add that Unix is a multitasking, multi user operating system which adds complexity and a lot more to explain. :)

      Anyway I’m pretty sure the very first electronic computers were single user and may not have had more modern input/output like terminals or CRT display & keyboard.