Hi,

The three most important things you need to master prior to jumping into OS development are: Basic computer science knowledge; Computer programming theory and best-practices; Low-level and a high-level programming languages .

Programmer can interact with the hardware by making device drivers in C or C++ language. Most of the Windows drivers are written in C/C++ languages. Whereas Linux drivers are made into C programming language. So, the very basic necessity of making drivers or operating system is to have good command over a programming language depending upon what are you going to create.

Also, you should know concepts like Data Structures and Classes as they will help you in making different components of the drivers and the operating system. You should also know concepts like looping and iterations as they come handy in writing long segments of code which will be required if you are creating an operating system or a highly integrated device driver.

Before proceeding to create an operating system or a device driver your concepts regarding the programming language should be very clear. You will encounter many bugs and errors in the programming code and if you know the programming language in depth, you will be able to tackle the problems very easily. So, you should work on that before proceeding further. Once your concepts are clear and firm, you can move on to creating a small game or program. If that is created successfully, start working on device drivers or OS. It is a difficult task but not an impossible one. You can do it with lots of hard work and dedication.

Hope this helps.

Good luck.