which of the following is the term used for a set of programs that acts as an interface between the applications that are running on a computer and the computer's hardware?

Operating System

Explanation:

Operating System is a software program which acts as an mediator between computer hardware and user program applications and allows interaction between the user and computer/hardware. OS is used to manage both the hardware and software related tasks. OS is used to manage memory. It allocates memory to various processes and manages the primary memory by monitoring what portion of it is in use and what portion is not in usage. OS is used to manage processes by allocating and deallocating resources to processes which is also called process scheduling. It also provide security by preventing unauthorized access to data and computer. This is done via passwords which identify who is authorized to use a computer programs or manipulate data. Operating system also communicates with hardware devices via device drivers and also monitors the devices through I/O controller. OS allows communication between user and computer. User cannot understand computer language therefore assemblers, compilers, interpreters are provided by the OS to the user to interact with computer and computer programs. OS also controls and manages file system, it checks the status of the files, manages the directories and files and keeps information about where the data is stored.