HN Books @HNBooksMonth

For algo/datastructures, CLRS (http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Algorithms-Thomas-H-Corme...) is the gold standard.

For OS's, Tanenbaum (http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Operating-Systems-Andrew-Tanenb...) is popular.

'Math' is broad - if I can recommend only one book to cover all of Math I'd probably say 'The Road to Reality' (http://www.amazon.com/The-Road-Reality-Complete-Universe/dp/...). More practically (for the subset of math most programmers are likely to care about), you'll do fine with one good discrete math book and one linear algebra book. Throw in one each on Stats, Abstract Algebra, Calc (up to ~diffeq), and Real Analysis (in roughly that order) if you're a bit more ambitious ;-)

⬐ mvanga

I just wanted to add that I felt Tanenbaum's Modern Operating Systems was a tad light on some of the core topics (especially when trying to get a good grip on the issues behind concurrency). I personally recommend the book by Silberschatz: http://www.amazon.com/Operating-System-Concepts-Abraham-Silb...

I also think for understanding how operating systems work, nothing beats writing your own! I learned most of the concepts by building a toy OS during the better part of my undergraduate studies. I highly recommend this for people who like coding and are afraid of jumping into the theory too quickly. For example, analyzing memory allocation algorithms is never as interesting as when you have to pick one for your own kernel!

I think you need have to a better goal. Even as a programmer you have multiple directions.

List of directions I can think of: - building simple websites or apps - programming hardware (robots, operating systems, ...) - software architecture - computer science (algorithms, research...) - games or simulation

You have also the social side of programming. Working in a team, selling software to customers and helping them.

I do recommend learning about networking and operating systems. For increasing knowledge over everything that happens in the background - http://amzn.com/0136006639

>And how exactly does having a microkernel fix the problem of having a stable driver API? Drivers must be written to some framework.

at this stage i will refer you to, ironically, Andy's book:

http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Operating-Systems-3rd-Edition/d...

One book many engineers have cut their teeth on for OS would be Andrew Tanenbaum's Modern Operating Systems, 3rd ed.

http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Operating-Systems-Andrew-Tanenb...

Either I'm missing something or this tutorial is seriously lacking.

I'd much recommend Tannenbeum's classic text that covers implementing Minix: http://www.amazon.com/Operating-Systems-Implementation-Prent...

But since this text is rather old, it doesn't have some of the later developments in OS. So for that additional material, I'd recommend his latest book to have at your side: http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Operating-Systems-Andrew-Tanenb...

⬐ michael_dorfman

Actually, I'd recommend the latest version of OSDI, which is fairly recent, and contains the complete source for MINIX3 (in text form, and on CD): http://www.amazon.com/Operating-Systems-Design-Implementatio...

⬐ gruseom

So Tanenbaum has two OS textbooks in print? How different are they? Why read one rather than the other?

⬐ mahmud

He has THREE. Don't forget the Amoeba book "Distributed Operating Systems" (not sure if it's in print though.)

⬐ michael_dorfman

OSDI is "the MINIX book". It shows, about as much detail as possible, how a microkernel-based OS is written, down to the actual (complete) source code.

Modern Operating Systems, on the other hand, is a bit higher level (but still fairly nitty-gritty) and examines two monolithic kernels (Linux/Unix and Windows) as case studies.

⬐ kenjackson

Thank you. I'd learned from the original text. I never knew he had released a couple more editions of this.

In fact, I may have to go buy this now!

⬐ flatulent1

The tutorial certainly lacks any emphasis on security. It ought to be mentioned right up front. Does the choice of development environment matter? Say so!!! Trying to add security after the fact is painful and tends to be only marginally successful.

⬐ mahmud

OS security is something that really aught to be discussed separately from OS texts. I mean, not all OSes are multiprogramming or need security. Earlier version of his Operating Systems book taught MS DOS, along with others, for example.

Security exposition is something best left to a separate text, and Matt Bishop's fat book does a good job (not the thin watered down one.)

⬐ xpaulbettsx

Windows Internals is also a good book for learning about operating systems, even if you're not specifically interested in Windows. Mac OS X is more detailed since the source code itself can be published, but it's not as easy to read (gets pretty dry at times). I also enjoyed reading Robert Love's "Linux Kernel Development".

One of the things that really helped me learn more was reading both of those books - understanding two very different kernels (NT vs. Linux) really helps you grok the problems an OS has to solve, and to separate "This is a NT thing" vs. "This is a hardware thing that every OS has". Kind of like learning a foreign language makes you think more about grammar in your native language (at least for me).

⬐ mahmud

I wrote Love a personal thank you letter after I read LKD :-)

OSDI (2nd) was written in 1997, perhaps you were thinking of this? http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Operating-Systems-3rd-GOAL/dp/0...

Minix 3 is a whole different ball game though. It's an interesting kernel with some interesting ideas, but I still recommend Linux as it's both more popular and reflects the majority of UNIX design decisions today. Even the OSs with praise for microkernel design tend to incorporate a number of monolithic features.

EDIT: Sorry! I had no idea there was a Third Edition of OSDI out http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/academic/product/0,,.... However, I should mention that I meant those Linux books to be read in conjunction with the kernel code -- the book is still valid today despite the additions to the kernel in the past couple years.

⬐ michael_dorfman

The 3rd edition of OSDI is definitely worth reading. The MINIX3 kernel is only 4000 lines of code; very clean, and easy to wrap your head around.