| The book assumes that the reader has some previous knowledge of operating system structure and terminology. For anyone needing such a background I can recommend my book Operating Systems (O’Gorman, 2000), which is a short readable introduction to the topic. Operating Systems with Linux (O’Gorman, 2001) is much more detailed, with all examples in it taken from Linux, including areas not covered in this book, such as the memory and input–output managers. The book also presumes a minimum knowledge of C and of computer organisation, particularly the Intel i386 architecture.
One omission that may bother some readers is that it does not cover the implementation of any of the system services. The sheer size of the project forced this decision, and maybe the system services are not the worst choice if something has to be left out. Many of them are covered reasonably well in existing books on Linux kernel internals.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the index is as complete as possible. As well as the usual topic entries, each function, macro and data structure discussed is also referenced there. It is envisaged that this index will be the first port of call for many users of the book. |