Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 254 pages
- Published by: Peer-to-Peer Communications Inc.
- Edition: 6th Edition August 1, 1977
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 1573980137
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-1573980135
-
Book Dimensions:
10.9 x 8 x 0.5 inches
- Weighs: 1.3 pounds
Book Description
The most famous suppressed book in computer history! * Used as an Operating System textbook at MIT"After twenty years, this is still the best expostion of the workings of a 'real' operating system." --- Ken Thompson (Developer of the UNIX operating system)After years of suppression (as trade secrets) by various owners of the UNIX code, this tome has been re-released, and we owe a debt to all involved in making this happen. I consider this to be the single most important book of 1996. Unix Review, June 1997"The Lions book", cherished by UNIX hackers and widely circulated as a photocopied bootleg document since the late 1970's, is again available in an unrestricted edition. This legendary underground classic, reproduced without modification, is really two works in one: the complete source code to an early version (Edition 6) of the UNIX operating system, a treasure in itself! a brilliant commentary on that code by John Lionswith additional historical perspective essays added in 1996.Lions' marriage of source code with commentary was originally used as an operating systems textbook, a purpose for which it remains superbly well-suited (as evidenced by it's ongoing use at MIT).
Book Info
As a self-study UNIX conceptual tutorial, it has informed and inspired computer professionals and advanced operating system students for over twenty years. Paper.
Reader Reviews
The Lions Book was illegally pirated for many years after its publication, with fifth-generation photocopies being the most prized possessions of many Unix kernel hackers. It was republished shortly after the author died when the politics of the ownership of the Unix sources settled down. So what's so special about the book? The first reason is that John Lions believed strongly that just as in literature, where being able to read and analyse great works is more likely to lead to being able to write comparable works, software designers should learn to read and criticise working code. He chose Unix, 6th edition, running on the PDP-11. His book is a subset of the kernel sources, with commentary. The second reason is that the code itself is, in general, pretty fine stuff. It includes the legendary/* you are not expected to understand this */. It's amazing that so much of modern Unix functionality already existed in the mid-70s and ran in only 32kbytes of RAM. And thirdly, it's a historical document that describes a real operating system, that's come to effect the development of most subsequent system software. It's a great read, if you're a geek, and you suspect that good code, like good literature should be read and enjoyed.
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