Classic Operating Systems: From Batch Processing to Distributed Systems

This remarkable anthology allows the pioneers who orchestrated the major breakthroughs in operating system technology to describe their work in their own words. From the batch processing systems of the 1950s to the distributed systems of the 1990s, Tom Kilburn, David Howarth, Bill Lynch, Fernando Corbato, Robert Daley, Sandy Fraser, Dennis Ritchie, Ken Thompson, Edsger Dijkstra, Per Brinch Hansen, Soren Lauesen, Barbara Liskov, Joe Stoy, Christopher Strachey, Butler Lampson, David Redell, Brian Randell, Andrew Tanenbaum, and others describe the systems they designed. The volume details such classic operating systems as the Atlas, B5000, Exec II, Egdon, CTSS, Multics, Titan,Unix, THE, RC 4000, Venus, Boss 2, Solo, OS 6, Alto, Pilot, Star, WFS, Unix United, and Amoeba systems. An introductory essay on the evolution of operating systems summarizes the papers and helps puts them into a larger perspective.This provocative journey captures the historic contributions of operating systems to software design, concurrent programming, graphic user interfaces, file systems, personal computing, and distributed systems. It also fully portrays how operating systems designers think. It's ideal for everybody in the field, from students to professionals, academics to enthusiasts.