Classic Operating Systems - From Batch Processing to Distributed Systems

In operating system courses, students learn useful principles but very little about the difficult art of software design. This volume is a collection of 25 original papers on classic operating systems, illustrating the major breakthroughs in operating system technology from the 1950s to the 1990s. All of them are written by the pioneers who designed these systems, with introductions added that summarize the papers and put them in perspective. This anthology is for professional programmers and students of electrical engineering and computer science. A familiarity with operating system principles is assumed, but the book describes how operating system designers think.

List of contents

The Evolution of Operating Systems.- I Open Shop.- 1 The IBM 701 Computer at the General Motors Research Laboratories.- II Batch Processing.- 2 The BKS System for the Philco-2000.- III Multiprogramming.- 3 The Atlas Supervisor.- 4 Operating System for the B5000.- 5 Description of a High Capacity, Fast Turnaround University Computing Center.- 6 The Egdon System for the KDF9.- IV Timesharing.- 7 An Experimental Time-Sharing System.- 8 A General-Purpose File System for Secondary Storage.- 9 File Integrity in a Disc-Based Multi-Access System.- 10 The Unix Time-Sharing System.- V Concurrent Programming.- 11 The Structure of the THE Multiprogramming System.- 12 RC 4000 Software: Multiprogramming System.- 13 The Design of the Venus Operating System.- 14 A Large Semaphore Based Operating System.- 15 The Solo Operating System: A Concurrent Pascal Program.- 16 The Solo Operating System: Processes, Monitors and Classes.- VI Personal Computing.- 17 OS6-An Experimental Operating System for a Small Computer: Input/Output and Filing System.- 18 An Open Operating System for a Single-User Machine.- 19 Pilot: An Operating System for a Personal Computer.- 20 The Star User Interface: An Overview.- VII Distributed Systems.- 21 WFS: A Simple Shared File System for a Distributed Environment.- 22 The Design of a Reliable Remote Procedure Call Mechanism.- 23 The Newcastle Connection or Unixes of the World Unite!.- 24 Experiences with the Amoeba Distributed Operating System.

Summary

An essential reader containing the 25 most important papers in the development of modern operating systems for computer science and software engineering. The editor provides an overview chapter and puts all development in perspective with chapter introductions and expository apparatus. Essential resource for graduates, professionals, and researchers in CS with an interest in operating system principles.

Additional text

From the reviews:
¿This book¿demonstrates the historic development of modern operating systems¿Readers will learn not only what these modern operating system landmarks are, but ¿how operating system designers think.¿¿This book is a must-read for anyone who is serious about operating systems research.¿ -- Computing Reviews
"This excellent presentation of a collection of seminal operating system research papers has been compiled by a widely published and acknowledged authority in the field. … The author’s insightful selection successfully distills and succinctly presents the operating system research ethos, simplifying complex issues without belittling them, while managing to preserve the obvious enthusiasm shared by these pioneers. … This book is a mine of useful information that will prove useful to those students wishing to gain an insight into … operating system design." (Simon Berry, The Computer Journal, Vol. 45 (3), 2002)

Report

From the reviews:
¿This book¿demonstrates the historic development of modern operating systems¿Readers will learn not only what these modern operating system landmarks are, but ¿how operating system designers think.¿¿This book is a must-read for anyone who is serious about operating systems research.¿ -- Computing Reviews
"This excellent presentation of a collection of seminal operating system research papers has been compiled by a widely published and acknowledged authority in the field. ... The author's insightful selection successfully distills and succinctly presents the operating system research ethos, simplifying complex issues without belittling them, while managing to preserve the obvious enthusiasm shared by these pioneers. ... This book is a mine of useful information that will prove useful to those students wishing to gain an insight into ... operating system design." (Simon Berry, The Computer Journal, Vol. 45 (3), 2002)

Product details

• Assisted by: Pe Brinch Hansen (Editor), Per Brinch Hansen (Editor)
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 06.02.2001
• EAN: 9780387951133
• ISBN: 978-0-387-95113-3
• No. of pages: 598
• Weight: 1182 g
• Illustrations: X, 598 p.
• Subject: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > IT, data processing > Hardware