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Operating System Concepts
The tenth edition of has been revised to keep it fresh and up-to-date with contemporary examples of how operating systems function, as well as enhanced interactive elements to improve learning and the student�s experience with the material. It combines instruction on concepts with real-world applications so that students can understand the practical usage of the content. End-of-chapter problems, exercises, review questions, and programming exercises help to further reinforce important concepts. New interactive self-assessment problems are provided throughout the text to help students monitor their level of understanding and progress. A Linux virtual machine (including C and Java source code and development tools) allows students to complete programming exercises that help them engage further with the material.
921 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1985
299 people are currently reading
3024 people want to read
About the author
Abraham Silberschatz
80 books36 followersAbraham Silberschatz is the Sidney J. Weinberg Professor & Chair of Computer Science at Yale University. Prior to joining Yale, he was the Vice President of the Information Sciences Research Center at Bell Laboratories. Prior to that, he held a chaired professorship in the Department of Computer Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin.
Professor Silberschatz is an ACM Fellow and an IEEE Fellow. He received the 2002 IEEE Taylor L. Booth Education Award, the 1998 ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award, and the 1997 ACM SIGMOD Contribution Award. In recognition of his outstanding level of innovation and technical excellence, he was awarded the Bell Laboratories President's Award for three different projects - the QTM Project (1998), the DataBlitz Project (1999), and the Netlnventory Project (2004).
Professor Silberschatz' writings have appeared in numerous ACM and IEEE publications and other professional conferences and journals. He has also written Op-Ed articles for the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and the Hartford Courant, among others.
Professor Silberschatz is an ACM Fellow and an IEEE Fellow. He received the 2002 IEEE Taylor L. Booth Education Award, the 1998 ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award, and the 1997 ACM SIGMOD Contribution Award. In recognition of his outstanding level of innovation and technical excellence, he was awarded the Bell Laboratories President's Award for three different projects - the QTM Project (1998), the DataBlitz Project (1999), and the Netlnventory Project (2004).
Professor Silberschatz' writings have appeared in numerous ACM and IEEE publications and other professional conferences and journals. He has also written Op-Ed articles for the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and the Hartford Courant, among others.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 118 reviews
January 30, 2012
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.
July 7, 2010
You learn operating systems by reading operating system source code, not the dinosaur book.
July 20, 2020
I read this for the 'second time' after skimming it during my studies. I didn't remember how bad this was...
It took me a good 3 years to go through this textbook. I'd originally used it as prep material for technical interviews, and I revisited it now to go in depth through virtual memory and distributed operating systems to keep my skills on. It's incredibly boring, dry, and goes from high-level to immense detail within just a few paragraphs! It's a textbook, sure, but it puts the worst of textbook on paper. It goes from explaining things like intuitively how a kernel works, to mathematically calculating the performance of techniques for scheduling and swapping. And it's all text, only a few pictures, with minimum explanations, minimum highlighting, poor usage of chapters, blocks, everything that makes a text readable and information memorable.
Factually great, style-wise impossible. Pick something else.
It took me a good 3 years to go through this textbook. I'd originally used it as prep material for technical interviews, and I revisited it now to go in depth through virtual memory and distributed operating systems to keep my skills on. It's incredibly boring, dry, and goes from high-level to immense detail within just a few paragraphs! It's a textbook, sure, but it puts the worst of textbook on paper. It goes from explaining things like intuitively how a kernel works, to mathematically calculating the performance of techniques for scheduling and swapping. And it's all text, only a few pictures, with minimum explanations, minimum highlighting, poor usage of chapters, blocks, everything that makes a text readable and information memorable.
Factually great, style-wise impossible. Pick something else.
April 10, 2015
Serves as a great complement to more applied books like Linux Kernel Development or Linux Device Drivers, filling all remaining theoretical gaps and providing the history of OS evolution.
Fits well for self-study. Almost every exercise, which there is a lot of, has a reference solution available either on the book's website or in the instructor's manual for the 7th edition, which can be easily found on the internet. Plus programming problems to gain a better understanding of essential OS topics.
This book is not perfect though, it has its flaws. Someone may consider it dry. It has some inconsistencies, ambiguities and typos, but on overall it is still a good book and is totally worth reading.
Fits well for self-study. Almost every exercise, which there is a lot of, has a reference solution available either on the book's website or in the instructor's manual for the 7th edition, which can be easily found on the internet. Plus programming problems to gain a better understanding of essential OS topics.
This book is not perfect though, it has its flaws. Someone may consider it dry. It has some inconsistencies, ambiguities and typos, but on overall it is still a good book and is totally worth reading.
October 30, 2013
Very helpful and if you are IT person, you will have read it decades ago.
I mean schools usually give a course where this book is the reference, if not the only material.
I mean schools usually give a course where this book is the reference, if not the only material.
May 24, 2021
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.
March 11, 2019
I read most of this book word by word and I am still pissed at what a waste of time that was.
If you want to learn, read tanenbaum.
If its for a class, I wish you luck, since with a professor who has chosen such a book you will probably need it.
If you want to learn, read tanenbaum.
If its for a class, I wish you luck, since with a professor who has chosen such a book you will probably need it.
February 17, 2013
Good for beginners: it's so easy to read that I can read it when I'm too sleepy for the Decline & Fall.
I'd like to find an equally approachable computer architecture book.
I'd like to find an equally approachable computer architecture book.
January 4, 2018
it's a good book! but you need to keep eye on other books to don't miss any point!
December 13, 2017
BORING (but also useful)
April 27, 2019
Fluent text with simple samples.
January 9, 2021
I don't understand why some people are complaining about this book.
I think it's a great book that explains exactly what it says, Operating System "Concepts"... and talks briefly about the actual implementation of operating systems(at the end of each chapter, and final chapters with case studies).
If you want to get a deeper understanding of any particular OS, then you should read the source code(if available) to understand the implementation of that OS. But first, you need to get your understanding of the "concepts" strong...
I think it's a great book that explains exactly what it says, Operating System "Concepts"... and talks briefly about the actual implementation of operating systems(at the end of each chapter, and final chapters with case studies).
If you want to get a deeper understanding of any particular OS, then you should read the source code(if available) to understand the implementation of that OS. But first, you need to get your understanding of the "concepts" strong...
November 18, 2023
Being operating systems the interface between hardware and software, a must for every aspiring well-rounded engineer. Hadn’t I gave it 4/5 stars, I wouldn’t probably kept it until the end.
April 16, 2019
A veces bien... a veces no tanto [💩]
April 5, 2019
.
.
Preface
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Computer-System Structures
3. Operating-System Structures
4. Processes
5. CPU Scheduling
6. Process Synchronization
7. Deadlocks
8. Memory Management
9. Virtual Memory
10. File-System Interface
11. File-System Implementation
12. I/O Systems
13. Secondary-Storage Structure
14. Tertiary-Storage Structure
15. Network Structures
16. Distributed System Structures
17. Distributed File Systems
18. Distributed Coordination
19. Protection
20. Security
21. The Unix System
22. The Linux System
23. Windows NT
24. Historical Perspective
Bibliography
Credits
Index
.
Preface
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Computer-System Structures
3. Operating-System Structures
4. Processes
5. CPU Scheduling
6. Process Synchronization
7. Deadlocks
8. Memory Management
9. Virtual Memory
10. File-System Interface
11. File-System Implementation
12. I/O Systems
13. Secondary-Storage Structure
14. Tertiary-Storage Structure
15. Network Structures
16. Distributed System Structures
17. Distributed File Systems
18. Distributed Coordination
19. Protection
20. Security
21. The Unix System
22. The Linux System
23. Windows NT
24. Historical Perspective
Bibliography
Credits
Index
January 28, 2022
I was assigned the first 14 chapters of this book for an OS course. Overall, it was not reader-friendly. It seemed poorly-organized and the writing was confusing, rambling, and repetitive.
The PDF slides didn't shed light on the content either; they were confusing and had typos.
Modern Operating Systems by Tanenbaum seems like a better textbook.
The PDF slides didn't shed light on the content either; they were confusing and had typos.
Modern Operating Systems by Tanenbaum seems like a better textbook.
April 10, 2012
Monotone and obtuse.
Has an affinity for fancy words - which normally ignites my interest, but not in this case somehow.
Has an affinity for fancy words - which normally ignites my interest, but not in this case somehow.
April 18, 2013
I love this book
June 26, 2023
First of all, I want to point out that. I really like this type of content. Boating, yachting, sailing, fishing and anything that falls under the concept of a marina.
I leave this information below for those who want to read it. A look at Boat and Yacht History:
the ships we encounter today are; They are large, robust and self-propelled watercraft used to transport cargo across the seas and oceans. This was not the case hundreds of years ago, and current ships went through centuries of development until they became what they are today.
In ancient times, sailors used rafts, bamboo logs, reed bales, inflated animal hides, and baskets covered with pitch to cross small bodies of water.
As a matter of fact, the first boat; it was in the form of a simple frame made of interconnected rods and sewn animal hides that skillfully covered them. These boats could easily carry large and heavy loads. Information about similar old boat examples; You can find it among bull boats, Eskimo canoes, and British Islander merchant ships on the North American plains. In addition to these, another old-style boat is the one carved from the log and the ends of which are sharpened. Some of these were 60 feet (approx. 18 m) long.
When we look at the history of seafaring in ancient times, we come across a very interesting study of human strength and survival instincts. For example, in ancient times, the simple shovel mechanism we know was not used. Instead, people used their hands to move through the water in tiny boats. They propelled their rafts forward, pushing the masts to the bottom of the rivers. Increasingly, using his creative instincts and ingenuity, man redesigned the posts by straightening them and widening one end, thus making it usable in deeper waters. Later, this form was masterfully redeveloped and the blade fixed to the sides of the boat was transformed into the shape of a wide oar.
Invention of the sail
The invention of the sail was the greatest turning point in maritime history. Sails replaced human muscle movements, and sailboats were able to travel longer with heavier loads. The first ships used square sails, which were best suited to sail downwind. Side sails were invented later.
The Egyptians credit the emergence of advanced sailing cargo ships. These were made by connecting and stitching together small pieces of wood. These cargo ships were used to transport large stone pillars used in the construction of monuments.
Here are the contents I love about two beautiful marinas.
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https://theboatyacht.com/concept-30-f...
https://numberoneboats.com/concept-30...
https://theboatyacht.com/concept-32-b...
https://numberoneboats.com/concept-32...
I leave this information below for those who want to read it. A look at Boat and Yacht History:
the ships we encounter today are; They are large, robust and self-propelled watercraft used to transport cargo across the seas and oceans. This was not the case hundreds of years ago, and current ships went through centuries of development until they became what they are today.
In ancient times, sailors used rafts, bamboo logs, reed bales, inflated animal hides, and baskets covered with pitch to cross small bodies of water.
As a matter of fact, the first boat; it was in the form of a simple frame made of interconnected rods and sewn animal hides that skillfully covered them. These boats could easily carry large and heavy loads. Information about similar old boat examples; You can find it among bull boats, Eskimo canoes, and British Islander merchant ships on the North American plains. In addition to these, another old-style boat is the one carved from the log and the ends of which are sharpened. Some of these were 60 feet (approx. 18 m) long.
When we look at the history of seafaring in ancient times, we come across a very interesting study of human strength and survival instincts. For example, in ancient times, the simple shovel mechanism we know was not used. Instead, people used their hands to move through the water in tiny boats. They propelled their rafts forward, pushing the masts to the bottom of the rivers. Increasingly, using his creative instincts and ingenuity, man redesigned the posts by straightening them and widening one end, thus making it usable in deeper waters. Later, this form was masterfully redeveloped and the blade fixed to the sides of the boat was transformed into the shape of a wide oar.
Invention of the sail
The invention of the sail was the greatest turning point in maritime history. Sails replaced human muscle movements, and sailboats were able to travel longer with heavier loads. The first ships used square sails, which were best suited to sail downwind. Side sails were invented later.
The Egyptians credit the emergence of advanced sailing cargo ships. These were made by connecting and stitching together small pieces of wood. These cargo ships were used to transport large stone pillars used in the construction of monuments.
Here are the contents I love about two beautiful marinas.
https://foodlord.net
https://theboatyacht.com/concept-36-b...
https://numberoneboats.com/concept-36...
https://theboatyacht.com/concept-28-b...
https://numberoneboats.com/concept-28...
https://theboatyacht.com/concept-30-f...
https://numberoneboats.com/concept-30...
https://theboatyacht.com/concept-32-b...
https://numberoneboats.com/concept-32...
May 9, 2022
Highly overrated book. This book covers many topics, including recent technologies and techniques.
I heard that this book is recommended as de-facto operating system textbook. I agree this book is not bad, but i don't think this is good at learning OS concepts by yourself.
Some chapters cover topics at normal level. I can accept those levels. But honestly, i think those chapters are still not easy. The book authors tend to explain concepts as little complicated. This tendency is severe in some advanced topics.
Some chapters are very complicated written, and i can say with confidence that those chapters are totally useless. I encourage you to find other books for those topics in those chapters. If you couldn't understand some topics in those chapters, you are not wrong at all. Do not waste your priceless time.
Especially, in chapters 11 from tenth edition, explanation about RAID is super complicatedly written, so I found another book covering RAID. I easily absorbed RAID through a book "Operating Systems, Three Easy Pieces".
Additionally, there are many errors, and those are not fixed from very old editions until now.
I heard that this book is recommended as de-facto operating system textbook. I agree this book is not bad, but i don't think this is good at learning OS concepts by yourself.
Some chapters cover topics at normal level. I can accept those levels. But honestly, i think those chapters are still not easy. The book authors tend to explain concepts as little complicated. This tendency is severe in some advanced topics.
Some chapters are very complicated written, and i can say with confidence that those chapters are totally useless. I encourage you to find other books for those topics in those chapters. If you couldn't understand some topics in those chapters, you are not wrong at all. Do not waste your priceless time.
Especially, in chapters 11 from tenth edition, explanation about RAID is super complicatedly written, so I found another book covering RAID. I easily absorbed RAID through a book "Operating Systems, Three Easy Pieces".
Additionally, there are many errors, and those are not fixed from very old editions until now.
April 10, 2018
Like most people, this was the text used for my operating systems course. I found it to be incredibly hard to follow at times and quite boring. Some people might argue that it's hard to make content like this interesting, but I found other authors, such as Andrew Tanenbaum, cover the material much faster and in a more understandable way. My main issue is that it assumes knowledge on some things but will explain others in an inconsistent manner. I generally had to search for a quite a few things when taking notes because I didn't understand the way they were being introduced.
Aside from the writing style and presentation, I felt like it was a fine enough book, just not necessarily the only one you'll need if you're entirely new to studying operating systems in this way.
Aside from the writing style and presentation, I felt like it was a fine enough book, just not necessarily the only one you'll need if you're entirely new to studying operating systems in this way.
November 9, 2020
The dino book can be an alright reference. When I was taking my Operating Systems class in college, I found the chapters on process management / process synchronization to be super helpful and clear. However as a whole, the book is very dry. This is definitely not a book you'd want to try reading cover to cover, because the subjects discussed can sometimes be too broad. The first few Chapters were especially boring and just felt like a long list of different versions of operating systems and features. So overall a pretty helpful reference when it comes to specific concepts with detailed code and diagrams. But not great for self-learning and requires a good course to supplement it.
November 26, 2018
Disclaimer: I am fairly new to the Operating systems and linux world.
This is my first book on operating system theory and i found it to be pretty descriptive about the concepts instead of just brushing up on things.I would recommend this book to someone who has been recently been exposed to the linux kernel and feels the need to understand the big picture or some of the basic clockworks that drive an Operating system and this is my no means the Bible of operating systems but a good starting point and also is suitable for the intermediate audience.
This is my first book on operating system theory and i found it to be pretty descriptive about the concepts instead of just brushing up on things.I would recommend this book to someone who has been recently been exposed to the linux kernel and feels the need to understand the big picture or some of the basic clockworks that drive an Operating system and this is my no means the Bible of operating systems but a good starting point and also is suitable for the intermediate audience.
January 30, 2020
Operating Systems are one of the most sophisticated pieces of software ever written. This is a study of the operating system principles and what are the trade-off made by designers while writing different systems.
This is not the right book if you are looking for Operating System internals and system programming specifics.
I felt some chapters are more detailed than required whereas some portions demand additional reading. Content is often not very engaging and took much more than expected to complete.
This is not the right book if you are looking for Operating System internals and system programming specifics.
I felt some chapters are more detailed than required whereas some portions demand additional reading. Content is often not very engaging and took much more than expected to complete.
September 20, 2023
It's a very detailed textbook on how operating systems work. It's interesting, but the level of detail can get somewhat overwhelming. This was one of my third year computer science prescribed textbooks.
What can I say? It's not horrible, but it's not spectacular either. I'm just amazed at how intricate operating systems are and have a renewed respect for OS developers and anyone who works on creating operating systems. I guess I also have more patience with operating systems, considering I now understand what absurd level of complexity their designers have to deal with.
What can I say? It's not horrible, but it's not spectacular either. I'm just amazed at how intricate operating systems are and have a renewed respect for OS developers and anyone who works on creating operating systems. I guess I also have more patience with operating systems, considering I now understand what absurd level of complexity their designers have to deal with.
May 7, 2018
A fantastic overview of operating systems and the components that make them up. Generally not detailed enough for implementations, but there are other good books for that. This book is nearly completely self contained, although I would recommend doing all the example problems at the end of each chapter and then at least one of the programming assignments. They will really help hammer home your understanding of the concepts.
January 16, 2020
This is (imo) the shining example of a bad textbook. It lingers on some really useless details of the matter and doesn't explain the facts as it should, instead it uses pictures with no explanations (e.g. RAID) and sometimes keeps on saying stuff without actually saying anything.
Seriously, if you want to really understand AND enjoy the topic, read Stallings' book. This one sucks for the most part.
Seriously, if you want to really understand AND enjoy the topic, read Stallings' book. This one sucks for the most part.
April 20, 2020
Read 2019 edition.
Either you directly interfere with operating systems as a developer or indirectly using system calls in programming languages like Assembly, C, C++, Java, C#, etc. you really need to read this giant book!
As giant as the dinosaur the book may seem, reading it is as joyful as watching butterflies.
The text is comprehensive and so informative, thus the whole book can be self read with no help of an instructor or a teacher.
If you doubt about reading it, read it!
Either you directly interfere with operating systems as a developer or indirectly using system calls in programming languages like Assembly, C, C++, Java, C#, etc. you really need to read this giant book!
As giant as the dinosaur the book may seem, reading it is as joyful as watching butterflies.
The text is comprehensive and so informative, thus the whole book can be self read with no help of an instructor or a teacher.
If you doubt about reading it, read it!
November 8, 2018
One of the recommended textbooks on operating systems. If not reading this for your course, it's not really a book you want to read cover to cover but something you refer to when you want to understand the fundamentals on a topic.
While it's better structured than Tanenbaum's "Modern Operating Systems", it's also certainly less entertaining.
While it's better structured than Tanenbaum's "Modern Operating Systems", it's also certainly less entertaining.
December 23, 2022
I had maybe 150 pages left of this 900 page textbook but I'm counting it. This was a good introduction to the topic. Explained in enough detail that even I could understand having no prior knowledge of operating systems, but wasn't so detailed that it moved past beginner-level. There were some funny one-liners in there too.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 118 reviews