Operating Systems [Student Edition] [Paperback]

H.M. Deitel (Author), P.J. Deitel (Author), D.R. Choffnes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2004

Operating Systems Textbook

Product Details

• Paperback: 1209 pages
• Publisher: Pearson (2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0536212155
• ISBN-13: 978-8131712894
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 8.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,215,853 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent text in operating systems, there is more than you need for a semester course, December 2, 2008

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Operating Systems (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

In my career, I have taught mathematics and computer science at the college level, developed and delivered courses in corporate training, taught classes in community education and occasionally engage in private tutoring. In the rapidly changing field of computer science, if you do not study, study and study, it will not take long before you are no longer on the cutting edge. While the continued existence of programming languages such as COBOL and other legacy systems does provide employment, they are not circumstances one should rely on for a long-term livelihood. Therefore, I am always trolling for new and better material for use as textbooks or for self-study. Having taught a CS major course in operating systems several times in the last decade, I have a natural interest in this book.
I found it to be very detailed and complete, while most students will probably skip the historical notes, they do provide excellent reference points concerning the development of operating systems. I would use some of them as starting points for in-class discussions of how some of the critical problems in operating systems development were solved. A few self-review questions with answers appear at the end of each section. The following items are included at the end of each chapter:

*) A list of web resources
*) A summary of the chapters
*) A list of the key terms
*) An extensive set of exercises (no solutions provided)
*) A list of suggested programming projects
*) A list of suggested simulations
*) An extensive set of references

As befits the trends in computing, a great deal of time is spent on multiprocessing and distributed environments. Coded solutions to many of these problems are explained and Java is the language used to simulate the solutions. The last two chapters are case studies of the Linux and Windows XP operating systems.
At this time I am not teaching operating systems and do not know when I will teach it again. When I teach a class again after some time away from it, I generally make a list of my top three candidates for the text and select the one I consider the best. At this time, this book would be on that list of three.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good introduction to operating systems, March 10, 2006

By 

E. Johnson "eerriicc" (Irvine, California United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Operating Systems (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

If you are a fan of the other Deitel books, you will probably like this one as well. I used this book in an undergraduate operating systems course and found it to be very useful. I later used the "dinosaurs" book (Silberschatz et al.) in a graduate course and was quite disappointed by the lack of detail.

One minor complaint is that this book is quite verbose, so one tends to get a little tired reading it. On the other hand, all of the details are what make this book a very good introductory text. My complaint about the "dinosaur" book is the lack of details and lack of verbosity.

In defense of the use of Java that other reviewers have complained about, I'm guessing that the writers wanted to use a language that their target audience (college undergrads) would most likely be familiar with. Also, using threads in Java is much easier than in some "OS-friendly" language like 'C'. As a way of demonstrating concepts, Java works quite well.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars who designed this book?!, February 1, 2005

By 

Ryan M. Mccormack - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Operating Systems (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

The content of this text is decent. However, the organization and display of the content is horrendous. Maybe the final editor of this book was blind and was going through a braille copy, I'm not sure. The typeface used for the headings and topics in this book are so awful they are literally distracting. There are headings in an "olde script" font face followed by subheadings in a modern cursive font face. Everything about it is over the top and tacky.