Operating system concepts (Addison-Wesley series in computer science) - Softcover

James L. Peterson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 020151379X ISBN 13: 9780201513790

Publisher: Addison Wesley, 1990

Synopsis

This is the most successful operating systems book on the market, with lifetime sales of well over 200,000 copies. In the fourth edition, this book enhances its reputation for clear coverage of the fundamental concepts which are the foundation of operating systems. The book has been revised to decrease coverage of older ideas, and expand discussion of new, common operating systems.

About this title

Review

Operating systems are large and complex, and yet must function with near-absolute reliability--that's why they're a class unto themselves in the field of software development. Since its first release 20 years ago, "the dinosaur book"--Operating System Concepts by Abraham Silberschatz, Peter Baer Galvin, and Greg Gagne--has been a valuable reference for designers and implementers of operating systems. The newly released sixth edition of this book maintains the volume's authority with new sections on thread management, distributed processes, and the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). There's also information on the workings of the latest crop of operating systems, including Microsoft Windows 2000, Linux, FreeBSD, and compact operating systems for handheld devices.

This book is concerned with the design of operating systems, which is to say it enumerates the problems that pop up in the creation of efficient systems and explores alternative ways of dealing with them, detailing the advantages and shortcomings of each. For example, in their chapter on scheduling CPU activity, the authors explain several algorithms (first-come, first-served, and round-robin scheduling, among others) for allocating the capacity of single and multiple processors among jobs. They highlight the relative advantages of each, and explain how several real-life operating systems solve the problem. They then present the reader with exercises (this book is essentially a university textbook) that inspire thought and discussion. --David Wall

Topics covered: The problems faced by designers of system software for electronic computers, and strategies that have been developed over the past 20 years to address (and, in some cases, solve) them. Problems of CPU scheduling, memory allocation, paging, processes and threads, storage management, distributed processes and storage mechanisms, and security are all discussed thoroughly and with many authoritative references.

From the Back Cover

TAKE THE NEXT STEP IN THE EVOLUTION OF OPERATING SYSTEMS

For the past two decades, dinosaurs have roamed the cover of Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne's OPERATING SYSTEMS CONCPETS. The product of a long process of evolutionary adaptations, this best-selling text has continually evolved to address the latest trends in operating system design. With its strong emphasis underlying concepts and rich selection of examples and case studies, no other text provides such a solid theoretical foundation for understanding operating systems.

Now in a fully revised and updated Sixth Edition, OPERATING SYSTEM CONCEPTS offers new chapters on Threads and Windows 2000, as well as new and expanded coverage of the client-server model and NFS, small footprint operating systems for PDAs, real-time operating systems, and more.

About this edition

• Publisher: Addison Wesley
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 020151379X
• ISBN 13: 9780201513790
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 696