Publisher's Synopsis
Providing an introduction to the basic concepts behind any computer operating system, this book contains suitable material to support a full course on operating systems for students with a basic understanding of computer science or some practical experience of computing. It will also appeal to engineers developing software for embedded systems.;The introductory chapters describe essential background information, including a historical perspective, a survey of major types of system and an examination of the basic structure of operating systems.;Subsequent chapters then present more detailed discussions of the fundamental activities performed by systems, including input/output and window management, scheduling, memory management and file systems.;Theaker and Brookes then examine general problems of resource management, including protection and control for communication and sychronization. Aspects of distributed processing, embracing a review of networking and interworking issues are also covered.;Finally, a simple system design is provided in the appendix, with encouragement to develop the basic concept into more sophisticated facilities.
