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Hello, everyone!
What are some good books on pure C? What are some good books on OS Design? What are some good books on building a kernel? What are some good books on ASM?
I do not have Linux, or Unix, or any BSD. I have XP. What would come first to learn as in C, OS Design, building a kernel? I assume learning ASM would be last? I am looking into books.
I do believe this is an FAQ question or a sticky or other thing. I like the C Programming Language, though it really depends on what you are needing from a C book. The book I mentioned is more detailed on syntax and form. I highly recommend you try out a few OSes to decide what it is that makes some easy to use, and other ones a piece of crap. Why is it some people struggle with SuSE and noobs fly through Linspire. How come Windows 98 was so easy to use, and Windows Vista is a flaming dog crap (by that I mean it looks cool from far away, but when you get close you can detect how much it stinks)? So OS design may be greatly aided if you have some idea as to how to define what it takes to be a well designed OS.
Building a kernel eh? Just grab some old Linux kernel source and familiarize yourself with the code. No book will do any better a job than that. Why do I recommend Linux kernel? Because at the kernel level OSes are basically the same and I would say look at the Mac OS X kernel but how are you going to get that source?
I still say that the documentation packaged with MASM is as good of a book as you could ever ask for. If it makes you feel better, just print it out.
In my humble opinion... you only need one book really,
"The C programming Language", Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Richie
You won't find OS stuff in there, but for that I'll buy a separate book.
I'd disagree. K&R is a good REFERENCE, but it is certainly not a good book to learn the language from. It is far too terse and brief. I'm not sure what book to recommend, as it has been several years since I studied C.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparky
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Mats
There is a huge sticky at the top of this forum...
C Book Recommendations -> http://cboard.cprogramming.com/showthread.php?t=74079
K&R is the absolute worst book to start with as a beginner. Like matsp said, it's a great reference once you know C.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparky
Get yourself a book like "Teach yourself C in 21 days" or something similar. Don't use any book that comes with a compiler on CD, those are almost always rubbish. You can get excellent compilers for free from the net, as well as IDEs.
QuantumPete
Did you try it?Quote:
Originally Posted by master5001
When?
Well its been years... I mean at my age it is a tad immature to be leaving dog crap on a door step--oh wait...
Please do not even get started with pro-Vista rhetoric. I will just ultimately put my fingers in my ears and hum loudly. You and I do not quite see eye to eye about microsoft anyway.
Well, it's fine to say you don't like it, but it's not fair to say it's crapware if you haven't tested it. Vista was pretty bad when it was first released, but it's gotten better recently. Perhaps not as good as XP in everything, but it's decent. I know because I use Vista.
So, let's be fair. If you don't like it, just say you don't like it, but don't badmouth (it's crap! etc) it if you haven't tried it out with SP1 and all.
o.O ... Trying out several OSes is not going to give a very good idea of how to design an entire OS. Unless of course you think the shell you're interacting with IS the OS.
If you want a decent OS neutral book, I thought Gary Nutt's "Operating Systems" was decent. It's not the best book I've ever read, but I learned a few things. (I wouldn't buy it from Amazon though... I think I bought a cheap international soft-cover for around 30-40 dollars, brand new on Amazon its 120!! Screw you American publishers.)
http://www.amazon.com/Operating-Syst.../dp/0201773449
The Windows Internals books do a pretty good job of explaining what goes on inside Windows, but the primary goal seems to be learning to get the most out of Windows, not learning to design an operating system. Their latest edition (5th edition) covers up to Vista and Server 2008. I own the 4th edition which covers up to XP, 2000, and Server 2003.
http://www.amazon.com/Windows%C2%AE-.../dp/0735625301
I would have to say I'm very glad I bought the Windows Internals book, and its relatively cheap (~40-50 dollars) compared to a textbook being used in schools (~100-120 dollars).
I'd say that claiming Vista is a flaming dog crap is highly opinionated, and unfortunate as you seem to be passing it off as a nonchalant fact. Vista behaves almost exactly like XP in my opinion, with a couple very minor differences that I certainly don't think warrant a "flaming dog crap" comment.