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fbroom's review against another edition
3.0
I mean I obviously had to read this book ... It wasn't by choice for sure.
You'll fall asleep a lot if you're not a "systems person".
Part of CS212 at Stanford.
You'll fall asleep a lot if you're not a "systems person".
Part of CS212 at Stanford.
libellum_aphrodite's review against another edition
3.0
This was the required book for my first Operating Systems Concepts class. As it was my first work in the subject, I have not read any similar books to compare and have no pre-existing knowledge to cross-check. With that novice disclaimer, I found this book to be very straightforward and readable with a number of relevant and up-to-date examples. Overall, a good outline of the requirements, components, and algorithms of a generic operating system.
rodhilton's review against another edition
3.0
It's a textbook on Operating Systems. There's not really all that much to say about it beyond that, so instead I will compare it to two other OS textbooks that I've read, "Operating Systems: A Modern Perspective" by Gary Nutt and "Modern Operating Systems" by Tanenbaum, generally regarded as the seminal textbook on the subject.
OS Concepts is, to put it bluntly, very dry. This is somewhat expected with a book on Operating Systems, but the level of dryness is worth noting. I often found the book difficult to stay awake reading. Compared with Tanenbaum's book, it's slightly less dry and occasionally more conversational, but it doesn't come close to approaching Nutt's book in terms of presentation and readability.
OS Concepts also has a strange tendency to rapidly switch from being extremely detailed and getting into very low-level mechanics to being almost humorously broad. In one chapter I was looking at detailed drawings of how virtual memory works in operating systems, and a few chapters later I was reading about what a virus is and how you should use tapes to back up important files. The tone is all over the place, with some chapters feeling like "Operating Systems for Dummies" full of advice for how to effectively USE your computer and pick good passwords, and other chapters feeling like lengthy tomes on how to effectively DESIGN an operating system. These shifts make the book significantly harder to read, because it's dangerous to skim through a section that seems basic, as it may often contain important details as well.
One key advantage of OS Concepts is that each edition comes in two flavors: regular and Java. Initially I had hoped that the Java version of the book would be the same book, simply using Java for code samples for familiarity with Java programmers. Unfortunately, while that is occasionally true, more often than not the book is simply the regular OS concepts book, with a few Java-specific sections tacked onto the end of each chapter.
Overall, it's not a bad book, but I don't really see the audience for it. If you want the nitty-gritty, classic detail of OS design, you should probably stick with Tanenbaum's classic text. If you want a more conversational, readable Operating Systems book (with just as much information), it'd be better to stick with Nutt's. Silberschatz's book falls somewhere in the middle, and is therefore as effective as neither.
OS Concepts is, to put it bluntly, very dry. This is somewhat expected with a book on Operating Systems, but the level of dryness is worth noting. I often found the book difficult to stay awake reading. Compared with Tanenbaum's book, it's slightly less dry and occasionally more conversational, but it doesn't come close to approaching Nutt's book in terms of presentation and readability.
OS Concepts also has a strange tendency to rapidly switch from being extremely detailed and getting into very low-level mechanics to being almost humorously broad. In one chapter I was looking at detailed drawings of how virtual memory works in operating systems, and a few chapters later I was reading about what a virus is and how you should use tapes to back up important files. The tone is all over the place, with some chapters feeling like "Operating Systems for Dummies" full of advice for how to effectively USE your computer and pick good passwords, and other chapters feeling like lengthy tomes on how to effectively DESIGN an operating system. These shifts make the book significantly harder to read, because it's dangerous to skim through a section that seems basic, as it may often contain important details as well.
One key advantage of OS Concepts is that each edition comes in two flavors: regular and Java. Initially I had hoped that the Java version of the book would be the same book, simply using Java for code samples for familiarity with Java programmers. Unfortunately, while that is occasionally true, more often than not the book is simply the regular OS concepts book, with a few Java-specific sections tacked onto the end of each chapter.
Overall, it's not a bad book, but I don't really see the audience for it. If you want the nitty-gritty, classic detail of OS design, you should probably stick with Tanenbaum's classic text. If you want a more conversational, readable Operating Systems book (with just as much information), it'd be better to stick with Nutt's. Silberschatz's book falls somewhere in the middle, and is therefore as effective as neither.
naleagdeco's review against another edition
3.0
I remember this being one of my most-loved books in university ... operating systems was one of my favourite courses and this textbook kept me incredibly fascinating. It was also, at least for me, overwhelmingly dense since in university I was being piled under new concepts that didn't sink in due to lack of practical application and general vocational immaturity.
Reading it again ... it's a good book. It's possibly a good reference, given that my particular copy is ancient. But I have to wonder if there's anything in this book that can't be reconstructed from wikipedia and other resources out there. There are also many great legitimately free operating systems books, like Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces, that it's hard for me to justify it except as a well-curated and well-written, if not pedagogically unique, guide.
CLRS is a book I'll keep forever because it and maybe "The Algorithms Design Manual" have not been replaced by any other resource. It's hard for me to say the same thing here.
Reading it again ... it's a good book. It's possibly a good reference, given that my particular copy is ancient. But I have to wonder if there's anything in this book that can't be reconstructed from wikipedia and other resources out there. There are also many great legitimately free operating systems books, like Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces, that it's hard for me to justify it except as a well-curated and well-written, if not pedagogically unique, guide.
CLRS is a book I'll keep forever because it and maybe "The Algorithms Design Manual" have not been replaced by any other resource. It's hard for me to say the same thing here.
anca_m's review against another edition
Covered only the first part for an exam - added in case I ever want to go back to it.
jldavis's review against another edition
5.0
Great book on operating system concepts. I had to use this along with my OS class. The images and explanations were always pretty satisfying. Definitely check it out if you are looking for an introductory OS book.
forthright48's review against another edition
Amazing chapters on Process and Virtual Memory.
lolindrath's review against another edition
3.0
Not too bad of an introduction to operating systems. I don't think I could confidently say that I can now write my own operating system but I think I have a much better understanding of how they work and could more easily understand the innards of existing operating systems.
bookedshow's review against another edition
4.0
This was a part of my curriculum and it eventually became my favourite of all the subjects i had for this semester. This book lays out a clear understanding of the workings of OS. I have come to appreciate after reading this. My only qualm is that there should have been more exercises for all the chapters. I genuinely enjoyed solving them and had to further look up for more. Can't believe I'm saying this, but this book was so fun.