Windows NT Device Driver Book, The: A Guide for Programmers [Paperback]

Art Baker (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0131844741 | ISBN-13: 978-0131844742 | Publication Date: December 20, 1996 | Edition: 2nd

18447-3 The most comprehensive, authoritative guide to Windows NTA (R) driver development. Now that Windows NT is rapidly becoming the business operating system of choice, more and more programmers are faced with developing Windows NT drivers. To write NT drivers well, you first need to understand the Windows NT driver architecture. But you'll also know a myriad of practical details that are rarely, if ever, documented. The Windows NT Device Driver Book tells you all you need to know. It clarifies the murky Microsoft Driver Development Kit (DDK) documentation, and contains extensive detail that's missing from the DDK. This information is invaluable right now-and it will prepare you for the future, when Microsoft introduces the common Win32 Driver Model for Windows NT and WindowsA (R) 95. You'll learn about the NT I/O Manager and its data structures, and discover how various hardware issues will impact the design of your driver. Once you know the fundamentals, Windows NT device driver expert Art Baker presents basic and advanced NT driver-writing techniques in unprecedented detail.Learn about: *Full-duplex driver architecture *Techniques for handling time-out conditions *Logging device errors *Kernel-mode threads, higher-level drivers, and class drivers for SCSI devices. The Windows NT Device Driver Book is replete with practical detail, including: *The mechanics of setting up a driver development environment *How to analyze crash dumps and make WINDBG work for you *Detailed information on common bugcheck codes There's also extensive sample code on diskette, designed to help streamline your own development projects. Whether you're designing or coding Win NT driver or porting an existing driver from another operating system environment, The Windows NT Device Driver Book contains all the information you'll need to get the job done.

Editorial Reviews

Review

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At just over 520 pages, The Windows NT Device Driver Book is half the length and less longwinded than more recent texts. However, it is less complete than more recent books and has been criticized as inaccurate on NT DDK mail lists and (with the advent of Windows 2000 and WDM drivers) out of date. Still, some minor things are covered in this book that are not covered in the current crop of books. This includes using hardware compatibility test suites (the HCT CD-ROMs in the MSDN) as a part of stress testing drivers and using DUMPEXAM as well as WinDbg.exe to read crash dumps. --Regan Russell, Dr. Dobb's Electronic Review of Computer Books -- Dr. Dobb's Electronic Review of Computer Books

From the Publisher

The most comprehensive, authoritative guide to Windows NT driver development. Now that Windows NT is rapidly becoming the business operating system of choice, more and more programmers are faced with developing Windows NT drivers. This book explains the complex Windows driver architecture, and presents insights into a myriad of practical details that are rarely, if ever, documented. It clarifies the murky Microsoft Driver Documentation Kit (DDK) documentation, and contains extensive detail missing from the DDK. This information is essential now, and will prepare developers for the future, when Microsoft introduces the common Win32 Driver Model for Windows NT and Windows 95. Learn about the NT I/O Manager and its data structures, and discover how various hardware issues impact driver design. Learn about full-duplex driver architecture, techniques for handling time-out conditions, logging device errors, kernel-model threads, higher-level drivers, and class drivers for SCSI devices. Understand how to set up a driver development environment and analyze crash dumps. Includes extensive sample code on diskette, designed specifically to help streamline development projects. For all Windows programmers who have a role in writing device drivers.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall Ptr; 2nd edition (December 20, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131844741
• ISBN-13: 978-0131844742
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,594,902 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Entry-level Windows 2000/NT Device Driver Book, May 30, 2001

By 

Jonathan Ludwig "Jonathan" (Utah) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Windows NT Device Driver Book, The: A Guide for Programmers (Paperback)

I have read all, but one of the Windows 2000/NT device driver books and found this one to be the best for beginners, by far. It is very well organized in a top-down approach. I though the concepts were well presented and easy to understand. After readin two other books on NT device drivers, this one finally explained things clearly for me.

The book is also very hands-on. It describes an example device drive in full source and develops it through each chapter. You can actually build the driver as you go and the driver is developed as you would develop your own driver.

I do want to make it clear that this book is not a definitive refence. It does conatin errors, but the approach for teaching Windows driver development is its strength. You'll want to get OSR's and Wlater Oney's Windows driver development books to get a good foundation.

This book is also not wordy and quick-reading. I would suggest is, if you are trying to grasp NT device drivers.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book., October 10, 2005

By 

Siddharth U. Sawe (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Windows 2000 Device Driver Book: A Guide for Programmers (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

I am pasting this review that i had originally posted in 2001 at other websites.

This is one of the best books i have read. I have several years of experience in C/C++ and some experience in windows programming however I am a 'absolute beginner' with Windows device drivers and kernel mode programming and i was able to grasp almost everything the book spoke about with relative ease and with NO confusions. I would recommend this book to anyone who has absolutely no background in device driver programming but wants to make a career doing just that. I must admit that the books assumes that you are versed with C/C++ and some understanding of programming paradigm for windows, but it is pretty obvious since this is NOT a book to teach a programming language nor it is aimed at teaching regular windows programming. It is a complete 'NO NONSENSE' book that deals with topics right upto the point. The contents of the book flow gracefully explaining each and every step with precise detail. The author seems to have made the best possible effort to explain the basics before jumping directly into details. And that does help an absolute beginner. This book does NOT cover details about device specific drivers but it does help you reach a point where you are confident that 'you will understand' whatever you research on your own. A very good book... have seen very few of these types lately.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great primer for legacy NT drivers, November 29, 2001

By 

J. Turner (Minnesota United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Windows NT Device Driver Book, The: A Guide for Programmers (Paperback)

For neophytes, writing a Windows NT device driver is often an extremely frustrating experience. I first wrestled with the DDK when I was asked to write a device driver for NT (version 3.5). The DDK documentation was wrong in several places. Thankfully, it has improved, but still leaves a lot to be desired.

Years later, Art Baker was the first to produce a readable driver development. It was, and still is, an excellent primer for those interested in developing device drivers for the NT operating system.

The information is still relevant for those of us who must maintain legacy NT drivers.