Specification for a standard interface between microcomputer operating systems and applications software

The purpose of this thesis is to define an interface between microcomputer-based operating systems and application programs in the areas of computer communications, computer graphics, real-time computing, language compilation, and data management. This necessitates determining the minimal functional requirements for application programs in each of these areas as well as determining how the application programs relate to one another. It is not the purpose to dictate to the designers of operating systems what the internal workings of their software should be, but only to specify a virtual operating system as it would appear to the application software with which it is to be interfaced. Such an interface, if made standard, would allow application software to be portable between different operating systems and microprocessors.