In this succinct text, authors Bic and Shaw respond to the major shift from single-processor to distributed and parallel computer systems. Their book is the first of its kind to integrate those fundamental ideas, principles and concepts that remain constant in both centralized and distributed computing even as new and more advanced systems are introduced.
Of benefit to both the professional and the student, the text presents numerous examples, from commercial and research operating systems, to clearly illustrate the relevance of specific concepts. BENEFICIAL FEATURES:
- Emphasis on key concepts provides a solid knowledge base, one that will remain relevant regardless of advances in systems.
- Unix, Linux, Windows and other case studies throughout the text illustrate the relevance of the principles and concepts in real-world systems.
- Frequent, concrete examples are presented in a readily comprehensible form to reinforce understanding of the principles and concepts.
- Processes and threads for concurrency and parallelism are covered from the programming perspective in Chapters 2 and 3, while Chapters 4 and 5 present implementation issues. Readers are given a wide spectrum of constructs and, additionally, the necessary data structures and operations.
- Distributed File Systems issues are integrated. The text offers an updated view of real-world file systems that are usually distributed over multiple servers or networks.
- Overview of protection and security topics offers a clear understanding of these issues and of the technologies that are so important in today's hostile virus- and worm-ridden environment.