GATE CSE IT » Difference Between Shell and Kernel

Difference Between Shell and Kernel

Read this blog to know about the difference between shell & kernel, their types, and other related information.

Table of Contents

  1. What is an Operating System?
  2. What is a kernel?
  3. Types of Kernels:
  4. What is a Shell?
  5. Types of shell:
  6. Difference between Shell and Kernel:

An operating system’s kernel and shell are crucial components used to carry out any particular task on the system. The phrase refers to software that goes beyond Kernel functions and provides an interface to each operating system user. When a user issues a command to be executed, the Shell is the first thing it receives. The Shell is also called an interpreter, as it converts assembly language programs into machine code before sending the request to the kernel. Let’s quickly review the kernel and shell concepts using questions and answers.

What is Operating System?

Each computer speaks its language and cannot understand one another. The operating system facilitates communication between people and computers and aids in operating all other programs. Any operating system-based application cannot be run on any computer.

What is a kernel?

Operating systems are, at their core, the kernel. It is a conduit between the applications and the hardware’s accurate data processing (CPU, disc memory, etc.). The operating system’s core component, the kernel, controls communication between user-level programmes and the hardware connected to the system. In other words, it is a platform that contains a certain collection of libraries and architecture for newly created applications and facilitates communication between them

Types of Kernels:

  1. Monolithic Kernel 

All operating system services run in kernel space in a monolithic kernel, one of the different types of kernels. The parts of the system are interdependent. It isn’t very easy and has many lines of code.

  1. Micro Kernel 

This type of kernel has a simple approach. It has thread scheduling and virtual memory. With fewer services running in kernel space, it is more stable. User space is laid to rest by it.

  1. The Hybrid Kernel

Both monolithic kernels and microkernels are combined. It has the modularity and stability of a microkernel and the speed and design of a monolithic kernel.

  1. The Exo Kernel

is a kernel that adheres to the end-to-end philosophy. It contains as few hardware abstractions as is practical. Applications are given physical resources to use.

  1. The Nano Kernel.

This particular kernel lacks system services but provides hardware abstraction. The MicroKernel and Nano Kernel are comparable since the MicroKernel likewise lacks system services.

What is a Shell?

Operating systems are, at their core, the kernel. It is a conduit between the applications and the hardware’s accurate data processing (CPU, disc memory, etc.). The operating system’s core component, the kernel, controls communication between user-level programs and the hardware connected to the system. In other words, it is a platform that contains a certain collection of libraries and architecture for newly created applications and facilitates communication between them.

Types of shell:

  1. The Bourne Shell –

The first shell was created by Steve Bourne at AT&T Bell Labs and is known as sh. For shell programming, it is the favored shell due to its speed and compactness. One flaw with the Bourne shell is that it doesn’t have interactive capabilities like the capacity to remember past commands (history). Additionally lacking from the Bourne shell is built-in expression handling for math and logic.

  1. The C Shell –

incorporated interactive features like command history and aliases. A command’s full path name includes practical programming tools, including built-in math and expression syntax similar to C. /bin/sh. The default prompt for non-root users is hostname%. Hostname # is the standard prompt for the root user.

  1. The Korn Shell

The Bourne shell is a superset of this. Everything in the Bourne shell is supported.

Similar to the C shell’s interactive features, it has them. Includes useful programming features such as created arithmetic and arrays, functions, and string manipulation tools reminiscent of those found in C. It outperforms the C shell in speed.  For the Bourne shell, scripts are written to execute

Difference between Shell and Kernel:

Shell Kernel
Users can communicate with the kernel using the shell.The kernel manages all system operations.
It is an interpreter for command lines (CLI).It’s a low-level program that interacts with the hardware (CPU, RAM, and drives) that programs run on top of.
It serves as the user and kernel interface.It serves as the operating system’s foundation.
The several types include Bourne Shell, C Shell, Korn Shell, etc.Micro Kernel, Monolithic Kernel, Hybrid Kernel, etc. are some of its types.
You can ask the OS to carry out a specific task using shell commands like ls, mkdir, and many others.It manages the processes.
Commands are executed on a file collection by giving a pattern to match.The memory is managed by it.
It is OS’s outermost layer.It is the OS’s inner layer.
It communicates with the user and translates language for machines.The kernel communicates directly with the hardware by receiving shell commands in a language the kernel can understand.