Modern software systems rely on the concepts of concurrency, modularity and distribution, both within the design of the operating system and those systems that it supports. Underlying this book is the premise that distributed systems are now commonplace and a reader is more likely to be using one than a centralized time-sharing system. This modern approach therefore avoids the focus on centralized systems, instead placing the operating system within its context and providing an overview of system components and their relationships.The book is divided into four parts: System Design, covering the basic operating system functions and describing the abstraction and implementation of a system as a community of (possibly distributed) concurrent processes. Distributed systems are introduced and a chapter on system security is included. Concurrency Control in Main Memory, focusing on concurrency control in operating systems and application-level systems and exploring inter-process communication (IPC) in the context of (distributed) system design. Transactions, demonstrating the general applicability of concurrent composite operations. Case Studies, considering different systems in the light of the perspective developed in the book: Classical UNIX; Linux, Solaris and Contemporary Unix; Extensible Systems; Windows 2000; Web Programming; Middleware; and Transaction Processing Systems.The Java language has been used throughout to illustrate object-oriented concepts, concurrent algorithms and distributed programming and the book includes a chapter on system security. The case studies, covering a full suite of professional operating systems, enable the course to be taught as a blend of theory and practice, so that on completion of the course a student is able to adapt and build real operating systems that function within a distributed environment.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction: Examples and requirements PART 1 BACKGROUND AND FUNDAMENTALS 2 System structure and dynamic execution 3 The hardware interface, I/O and communications 4 Support for processes and threads 5 Fundamentals of distributed systems 6 Memory management 7 File management 8 Security PART II SINGLE CONCURRENT ACTIONS 9 System structure 10 Low-level synchronization primitives: Implementation 11 Low-level primitives: Use in systems and languages 12 Language primitives for shared memory 13 IPC and system structure 14 IPC without shared memory 15 Crash resilience and persistent data 16 Distributed IPC PART III CONCURRENT COMPOSITE ACTIONS 17 Decomposable abstract operations 18 Resource allocation and deadlock 19 Transactions 20 Concurrency control 21 Recovery 22 Distributed transaction 23 Distributed computations PART IV CASE STUDIES 24 Unix and Linux 25 NT and Windows 2000 26 Extensible Operating Systems 27 Middleware 28 Transaction processing monitors and systems Appendix: Evolution of computer systems A.1 Introduction, technological and commercial context A.2 Operating systems and distributed operating systems A.2.1 Multiprogramming batch A.2.2 Centralized time-sharing (interactive) systems A.2.3 Workstations and personal computers A.3 Middleware A.3.1 Distributed programming, communications and services A.3.2 Mobile and ubiquitous computing A.4 Databases Bibliography Glossary Author index Subject index

About the Author

Jean Bacon is Lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Jesus College. She teaches operating systems, distributed systems and computer architecture, with her research in the area of distributed systems for which Cambridge is a centre of excellence. Tim Harris is Lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Churchill College. He recently received his doctorate on extensible operating systems.