An Introduction to Operating Systems (Paperback)

~ William Shay (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This text aims to provide a firm foundation in the principles and concepts of operating systems design and discuss major issues, as well as to show how several operating systems have implemented these concepts. It covers all major topics of operating systems, including memory management, I/O processing, concurrent processing, auxiliary storage management, and scheduling. There is also a chapter on queuing theory and a chapter with four case studies: MS-DOS, UNIX, VMS, and MVS. Additional case studies are presented at the end of each chapter.

From the Back Cover

This text aims to to provide a firm foundation in the principles and concepts of operating systems design and discuss major issues, as well as to show how several operating systems have implemented theses concepts. It covers all major topics of operating systems, including memory management, I/O processing, concurrent processing, auxiliary storage management, and scheduling. There is also a chapter on queuing theory and a chapter with four case studies: MS-DOS, UNIX, VMS, and MVS. Additional case studies are presented at the end of each chapter. Features: Describes what an operating system does, how it may do it, and why there are different approaches. Features 2 types of case studies: the first gives an overview of a particular operating system and how it has implemented some of the important topics covered in the text; second provides a discussion of how an operating system deals with one specific topic. Includes an operating systems simulation project in the appendix.

Product Details

• Paperback: 611 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall (January 14, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0673381226
• ISBN-13: 978-0673381224
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,181,718 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Clear, May 13, 2000

By	Bhanu Prasad (Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews

This book explains the fundamental concepts of operating systems in a clear, detailed and easy way. It also considers some existing operating systems such as UNIX to expalin how these concepts are implemented. While reading this book, you feel as if an experienced teacher is in front of you and explaining the things to you! I have never seen such a good book on this subject earlier.

The only problem with this book is it is slightly old. As a result, you don't find some advanced stuff.

Bhanu Prasad

5.0 out of 5 stars For CS students and experienced system programmers, November 21, 2004

By	G. Scotti - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The author's style in writing of this difficult (but fascinating) subject, is informative and surprisingly understandable. This ought to be the book with the best pdeagogic approach to teaching the theory and implementation of operating environments. Sll aspects of this particular type of software are explained clearly and smoothly. The author presents some very advanced topic nevertheless, but the beginner is given a path to arrive to them, and not be scared.

It is very good that the operating systems (further in this review: OS) taken as examples are widely ranging from single-suer, single-task, to much more complex mainframe OS such as VMS. I won't list them all, suffice to say that a very broad range of OSs are covered, and in a very pertinent and interesting way.

The code examples in the book are in Pascal, which some may think of as a weakness, but in reality it is a great advantage: Pascal code reads very much like normal English language and it's therefore easy to understand and follow, and expecially, easy to re-implement in your programming language of choice. I am a C programmer myself, and yet the examples have not put me off in any way. So if you ever thought of implementing an OS in Forth, C or any other programming language, know that this book will not hinder you but help you.

My final word is that the price at which this book can be bought (usually second hand, but sometimes also new) does no justice to it. This is not a $10 book, rather a $100 book that is greatly overlooked.