Customer Reviews

Understanding Operating Systems

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This is a good introduction to how operating systems work -- not nearly as technical as hard-core books written for computer scientists. The first 11 chapters explains the common basics of all operating systems, how OS's manage main memory, processors, devices, files etc. The last 5 chapters describe specific OS's for PCs and mainframes, and how they apply the features discussed in the first 11 chapters.

Being an "old-teckie-timer", I've worked with the big, medium, and small boxes, in several operating systems, and many languauges. I've taught this stuff to non-techs, too. My task is always to "simplify and communicate, without losing the meaning". I'm a techo-translator. So are Flynn/McHoes.

As a classroom textbook or a supplement to a technical CS book, it's great because it's easy to read and understand. But it's not "OS for Dummies." I recommend it to anyone who wants to understand the nuts and bolts of operating systems without having to read or write the code that runs the machine.

This text will defintely help the reader understand the principles of an operating system. It is designed as a textbook, and in that sense I feel that it oversimplifies some things.

Overall, though, I feel it is an excellent book to use to start learning about operating systems (to get the concepts correct in your mind) before you move on to more technical and detail oriented texts.

This book already assumes you know almost everything. Not good if your a newbie. You'd be better served with a different book. If you're an advanced PC user, this book will work great. Uses few pictures, so if you're a visual learner (like me), you'll get lost quick. Much of this book went right over my head. It's just words on paper. Wish the author would have used a Shelly-Cashman style of writing, using more diagrams and pictures to communicate their thoughts.