Operating System Design: The XINU Approach (v. 1)

In this book Douglas Comer dispels the magic from operating system design and consolidates the body of material into a systematic discipline. The author reviews the major system components and a structure that organizes them in an orderly, understandable manner.

The author guides you through the construction of a conventional process-based system, using practical straightforward primitives. He begins with a bare machine and proceeds step-by-step through the design and implementation of a small, elegant system.

Called Xinu, the system serves as an example and a pattern for system design. It includes all the components that constitute an ordinary operating system'. memory management, process management, process coordination and synchronization, interprocess communication, real-time clock management, device drivers, intermachine communication, networks, and a file system.

To use this book you should have had experience in writing programs in a high-level language like Pascal, PL/I, or C, and you should understand basic data structures such as linked lists, stacks, and queues.