What is a device driver?

A device driver is a specialized software program that acts as a bridge between the operating system and hardware devices. It enables the operating system to communicate effectively with hardware components like printers, graphics cards, or hard drives. Without device drivers, the operating system would not have the necessary instructions to interact with these hardware components, rendering them unusable in the system.

The primary function of a device driver is to translate the high-level commands from the operating system into device-specific commands that the hardware can understand and execute. This means that whenever the operating system needs to send data to a device or receive data from it, the device driver is responsible for ensuring that the proper protocols and data formats are adhered to.

In contrast, the other choices describe different concepts. A device driver is not a physical component of the computer, as its primary role is software-based. While an operating system includes features that help manage hardware, a device driver itself is not a standalone feature of the operating system; rather, it is an essential part of the software that enhances the OS's capability to work with hardware. Lastly, while there are storage devices, a device driver is not a type of storage device itself; rather, it specializes in managing the operations and communications for various hardware devices within the