Kernel Projects for Linux (Paperback)

by Gary Nutt (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Author provides a series of 12 lab exercises that illustrate how to implement core operating system concepts in the increasingly popular Linux environment. Hands-on manual complements any core operating systems book by demonstrating how theoretical concepts are realized in Linux. Softcover. CD-ROM included. DLC: Linux.

From the Author
I have written Kernel Projects for Linux as a textbook to be used in the classroom (it is NOT a self-help reference book). Linux is an exciting OS because of its open source policy, resulting rapid development, and importance in the commercial world. This book is intended to introduce the Version 2.2.12 kernel to undergraduate students who may have only a year of programming experience, and who have not previously seen kernel code. The book begins with a 50-page overview of the kernel. The second part of the book is a dozen programming problems with graduated difficulty. Choosing problems in the Linux environment is especially difficult since most desirable additions or modifications have already been done. Each problem has an explanation of relevant concepts the student will need to solve the problem, and some hints about how to solve the problem. As an applied software book, the explanations and examples are bound to meet the disapproval of some readers ! -- have you ever seen a program or documentation that everyone thought was wonderful? Even so, the reviewers (instructors at very well-respected universities) and my students have found the book to be accurate and useful. Since it is a textbook rather than a technical reference book, its value would be greatly diluted by publishing the solutions to the dozen exercises, therefore (as is traditional in the textbook market) the publisher and I agreed to only distribute solutions to instructors -- sorry. Gary Nutt

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Product Details

• Paperback: 239 pages
• Publisher: Addison Wesley (July 29, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201612437
• ISBN-13: 978-0201612431
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 7.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #287,565 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Book kept its promise, February 21, 2001

By	"joynisha" (St Louis, MO United States) - See all my reviews

I must full agree with the author's review. This book is by no means a self help reference book and hence, need to be bought by people who has the time and initiative to diligently dig through Linux literature, theory, pertinent to each excercise group.

I have given 5 stars to this book because this book is what it claims to be. There are a group of projects with very nicely graded difficulty level. Each group contains very good pointers as to how to attack the problem and where to look for, in order to solve them. The absence of a full fledged solution is what I like best about this book. The author has very wisely kept back the solutions, because there is no better way to learn Linux then to look into relevant parts of the source code. But without this book the word "Relevant Parts" doesnt makes sense, because the Linux kernel is a huge chunk of code, and for any beginner its absolutely overwhelming. Its even hard to decide, that where to start reading the source code.

Thats where this book is very very helpful. Each excercise exposes the reader to a very well defined part of the kernel, and the reader gets a thorough understanding after she has successfully solved that part. I feel that this book is one of its kind in the market. However the book couldve done without the fundamentals, because cramming linux or any UNIX like OS fundamentals in 49 pages is a sheer compromise. Instead the book couldve had some more problems, to span the entire width of Linux.

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poor implementation, September 27, 2000

By	Geoffrey Kong (Mountain View, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

The idea of this book is good. However the implementation is very poor. There are obviously errors and inaccuracies in guidelines and hand-on tips provided for linux in the exercises. And author can not even provide solutions to the exercises in the book on public website. It give up half of its value.

It's an immature book, which is surprised to get published by accredited Addison Wesley.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I liked it, but..., February 4, 2003

By	Trevor (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) - See all my reviews

This was actually quite an interesting book. I found the assignments interesting, and challenging yet able to be completed for the most part.

Now we come to the problem. When you are asked to answer a question in an assignment, and you contact the author of the book and the "creators" of Linux who both agree the question can not be answered as asked, we get into a bit of weirdness.

Even the author says the "official" solution to some of the problems in the book are done in exactly the way he requests them not to be done in the book, simply because it is impossible to solve the problem in Linux as asked.

So, if you're looking for something that makes you think about ways to accomplish assigned tasks, this is a good book. If you want a book without errors and having all questions capable of being answered as asked, this is not as good of a book.
Therefore I give it 3 stars, to put it right in the middle.