Operating System Concepts [Hardcover]

Abraham Silberschatz (Author), Peter B. Galvin (Author), Greg Gagne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 29, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0470128720 | ISBN-13: 978-0470128725 | Edition: 8

Keep pace with the fast-developing world of operating systems

Open-source operating systems, virtual machines, and clustered computing are among the leading fields of operating systems and networking that are rapidly changing. With substantial revisions and organizational changes, Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne’s Operating System Concepts, Eighth Edition remains as current and relevant as ever, helping you master the fundamental concepts of operating systems while preparing yourself for today’s emerging developments.

As in the past, the text brings you up to speed on core knowledge and skills, including:

• What operating systems are, what they do, and how they are designed and constructed
• Process, memory, and storage management
• Protection and security
• Distributed systems
• Special-purpose systems

Beyond the basics, the Eight Edition sports substantive revisions and organizational changes that clue you in to such cutting-edge developments as open-source operating systems, multi-core processors, clustered computers, virtual machines, transactional memory, NUMA, Solaris 10 memory management, Sun’s ZFS file system, and more. New to this edition is the use of a simulator to dynamically demonstrate several operating system topics.

Best of all, a greatly enhanced WileyPlus, a multitude of new problems and programming exercises, and other enhancements to this edition all work together to prepare you enter the world of operating systems with confidence.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Keep pace with the fast-developing world of operating systems

Open-source operating systems, virtual machines, and clustered computing are among the leading fields of operating systems and networking that are rapidly changing. With substantial revisions and organizational changes, Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne’s Operating System Concepts, Eighth Edition remains as current and relevant as ever, helping you master the fundamental concepts of operating systems while preparing yourself for today’s emerging developments.

As in the past, the text brings you up to speed on core knowledge and skills, including:

• What operating systems are, what they do, and how they are designed and constructed
• Process, memory, and storage management
• Protection and security
• Distributed systems
• Special-purpose systems

Beyond the basics, the Eight Edition sports substantive revisions and organizational changes that clue you in to such cutting-edge developments as open-source operating systems, multi-core processors, clustered computers, virtual machines, transactional memory, NUMA, Solaris 10 memory management, Sun’s ZFS file system, and more. New to this edition is the use of a simulator to dynamically demonstrate several operating system topics.

Best of all, a greatly enhanced WileyPlus, a multitude of new problems and programming exercises, and other enhancements to this edition all work together to prepare you enter the world of operating systems with confidence.

About the Author

Abraham Silberschatz is the Sidney J. Weinberg Professor and Chair of Computer Science at Yale University. Prior to joining Yale, he was the Vice President of the Information Sciences Research Center at Bell Laboratories. Prior to that, he held a chaired professorship in the Department of Computer Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin.

Professor Silberschatz is an ACM Fellow and an IEEE Fellow. He received the 2002 IEEE Taylor L. Booth Education Award, the 1998 ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award, and the 1997 ACM SIGMOD Contribution Award. In recognition of his outstanding level of innovation and technical excellence, he was awarded the Bell Laboratories President's Award for three different Projects -- the QTM Project (1998), the DataBlitz Project (1999), and the NetInventory Project (2004).

Professor Silberschatz' writings have appeared in numerous ACM and IEEE publications and other professional conferences and journals. He is a coauthor of the textbook Database System Concepts. He has also written Op-Ed articles for the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and the Hartford Courant, among others.

Peter Baer Galvin is the chief technologist for Corporate Technologies (www.cptech.com), a computer facility reseller and integrator. Before that, Mr. Galvin was the systems manager for Brown University's Computer Science Department. He is also Sun columnist for ;login: magazine. Mr. Galvin has written articles for Byte and other magazines, and has written columns for SunWorld and SysAdmin magazines. As a consultant and trainer, he has given talks and taught tutorials on security and system administration worldwide.

Greg Gagne is chair of the Computer Science department at Westminster College in Salt Lake City where he has been teaching since 1990. In addition to teaching operating systems, he also teaches computer networks, distributed systems, and software engineering. He also provides workshops to computer science educators and industry professionals.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 992 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 8 edition (July 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470128720
• ISBN-13: 978-0470128725
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 1.5 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,410 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > APIs & Operating Environments > Operating Systems Theory
  • #54 in Books > Computers & Technology > Operating Systems

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 36 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A sound introductory text April 27, 2010

By wiredweird HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

This provides a solid introduction to the basics of operating system (OS) internals. After an introductory section, this covers the major subsystems in an orderly progression: processes, memory, storage, protection, distributed systems, and special purpose systems. Although I might quibble with some of the ordering, (e.g., virtual memory vis a vis process management), this gives a firm foundation for anyone teaching introductory OS internals. As an aside, instructors should also be aware of the additional support they'll find at the book's web site.

I have no real objections to this book, but find that some of its emphasis won't suit all readers. For example, 99% of all processors don't run Windows or Linux. Instead, they run your DVD player, car air bags, microwave, digital watch, and just about everything else with a power cord or battery. Engineering students headed for embedded system development will need supplementary material. Also, like every other undergrad text I know, this underplays the critical importance of standards in everything from APIs and file system structures to network protocols and safe coding guideline.

I've taught from this book and from Tanenbaum and, to tell the truth, have no strong preference between the two. They present comparable material at roughly the same level, both offer good case studies, and both offer on-line support to students and instructors. Each outweighs the other on specific topics but, on the whole, that seems to balance out. I note that some reviewers object to this book's level. To them, I can only say: that's life. OS development is at least ten times as hard as developing mainstream applications (as measured by programmers' output of debugged code), so it will require some programming knowledge to follow discussions of OS internals. Railing against obviously important prerequisites says more about the speaker than about the book.

- wiredweird

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book September 23, 2008

By Chris Mcclanahan

Format:Hardcover

Although I had to buy this book for a class, I do enjoy reading it. The book stays current by focusing on modern multi-core processors, and relating most concepts to Linux, Windows, and Solaris (plus sometimes others) operating systems. It is fairly easy to read, and there are programming exercises at the end of each chapter to highlight concepts. This book will definitely get your feet wet when learning operating system concepts.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Good introduction to OS general concepts September 9, 2011

By Juice Box Hero

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was careful to buy the US edition instead of the International edition. Despite the claims that the content is exactly the same, that is simply not true. The exercises after every chapter are different. One of my classmates unknowingly got the Int'l edition and was not so lucky. Entire sections of chapters were printed non-sequentially. In other words, the book had pgs 1-15, then 32-45, then 16-31. I've come to realize that the Int'l editions are the equivalent of Chinese knockoffs electronics for books. To use an old cliche: You get what you pay for.

The book itself does a good job of explaining each concept, although my professor's lectures clarified all of the confusing concepts. The writing is as interesting as can be for a topic I consider very dry. This edition is a bit outdated, using Windows XP as examples for many of the concepts. There is a more recent edition using Windows 7 called Operating Systems Concepts Essentials. Overall, if you are looking for a textbook introducing the design and inner functions of operating systems, I don't know of any better sources.