Abraham Silberschatz

I’ve lost count of how many operating systems books I’ve read. It’s probably less than 5, and it’s definitely greater than or equal to 3. Nevertheless, I’ve enjoyed reading them, for the most part.

Operating System Concepts by Abraham Silberschatz, among others, finds itself in its seventh edition. It is a massive tome, covering the major aspects of operating systems, including in-depth examples of the major OSes of the time: Linux, XP, and some others, detailing their strengths, show more their weaknesses, and how they handle the complex things geeks keep trying to get them to do speedily.

I must admit, I doubt I’ll ever implement an operating system (other than the one I did in a college course, which was essentially a subset of Linux), but I still find it interesting to see the state of the art, and you might too, if that sort of thing is up your alley.

I’d imagine, as well, if you are the type of person who has the yen for operating systems, that this book, and the other few I’ve read, might be indispensable resources for your technical library, or likewise if that book you’re using for your Operating Systems 101 course isn’t cutting it.

What with a new version of Windows and a significant improvement to the Linux kernel, as well as the ubiquity of portable OSes, I’m curious what the eighth edition will have, and how many more thousands of pages it’ll be. show less

This book teaches about the inner workings, the nuts and bolts of databases without requiring a lot of prior knowledge:

Data Models
Relational Databases
Object Based Databases and XML
Data Storage and Querying
Transaction Management
Database System Architecture

Personally I feel that some material doesn’t belong here, such as XML, but it seems to be a tradition to include it. I found the chapter on indices quite interesting.

At the end of the book there are several chapters on popular show more commercial databases. It seems that these chapters do not add any value. In any case the authors should have devoted at least one chapter to an open source database. In the real world you have as much chance to work with a commercial database as with an open source one.

My copy is quite outdated by now. New developments, for instance NoSQL databases, are not mentioned. I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. show less

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 show more 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. show less

Database System Concepts , 5/e, is intended for a first course in databases at the junior or senior undergraduate, or first-year graduate, level. In addition to basic material for a first course, the text contains advanced material that can be used for course supplements, or as introductory material for an advanced course. The authors assume only a familiarity with basic data structures, computer organization, and a high-level programming language such as Java, C, or Pascal. Concepts are show more presented as intuitive descriptions, and many are based on the running example of a bank enterprise. Important theoretical results are covered, but formal proofs are omitted. In place of proofs, figures and examples are used to suggest why a result is true. The fundamental concepts and algorithms covered in the book are often based on those used in existing commercial or experimental database systems. The aim is to present these concepts and algorithms in a general setting that is not tied to one particular database system. Details of particular commercial database systems are discussed in the case studies which constitute Part 8 of the book. The fifth edition of Database System Concepts retains the overall style of prior editions while evolving the content and organization to reflect the changes that are occurring in the way databases are designed, managed, and used. Key • Early coverage of SQL in two chapters • Think of SQL as doing or creating Queries • Silberschatz uses a bank analogy throughout his text with Running Examples • Case studies are incorporated that represent a different database, this is in the last Part of the text • Focuses on cutting edge material, such as xml, web based database systems show less