[comp.sources.d] Lions vs. Bach

ron@brl-sem.UUCP (04/04/87)

The Lions Book, A Commentary on the UNIX Operating System, is a topical
analysis of version 6 UNIX, it even has some suspense in the unravelling
of the "You are not expected to understand this" comment in swtch.
What it does is lead you through the source code for various topics,
explaining what you see, however there isn't much text there other
than that.  You are expected to spend some time studying the source
code.  It was alright as that happened to be the source code we were
working with at the time.

Bach, not having the benefit of source code, and being a more instructional
book rather than the course notes for a college course, has much more
descriptive text, which is complemented with C-like algorithm descriptions
and pictures.  The book is complete enough to give one a good understanding
of how UNIX works.

Lions, however, still has merit in today's modern UNIX environment.  It
works you through the ACTUAL SOURCE much of which is in the same style as
the more recent UNIXes (if not the exact same code).  If you are going to
be hacking on the UNIX source, then a trip through the kernel with Lions
would be worthwhile.

(By the way, mine is a second generation XEROX.  When I originally saw
the book, I had not realized how difficult they were to obtain.  Later
I found someone with a XEROX'd copy and I grabbed it immediately and
made my own copy.  Fortunamtely, I have been employed by groups holding
source licences since 1977.)

-Ron

chris@nrcvax.UUCP (04/05/87)

ron@brl-sem.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) says:
>
>(By the way, mine is a second generation XEROX.  When I originally saw
>the book, I had not realized how difficult they were to obtain.  Later
>I found someone with a XEROX'd copy and I grabbed it immediately and
>made my own copy.  Fortunamtely, I have been employed by groups holding
>source licences since 1977.)
>

Forgive me if this has already been asked and answered.  Is the Lions
document available for those sites that have source licences (for which UNIX?)?
If so, how and where?

-- 
	Chris Grevstad
	{sdcsvax,hplabs}!sdcrdcf!psivax!nrcvax!chris
	ucbvax!calma!nrcvax!chris
	ihnp4!nrcvax!chris

	Too many notes.  There are just simply too many notes.

phil@amdcad.UUCP (04/11/87)

In article <844@nrcvax.UUCP> chris@minnie.UUCP (Chris Grevstad) writes:
>
>Forgive me if this has already been asked and answered.  Is the Lions
>document available for those sites that have source licences (for which UNIX?)?
>If so, how and where?

We got ours from
	A. F. French, Jr.
	MH Computing Information Library
	Bell Laboratories
	600 Mountain Av
	Murray Hill, NJ 07974
	201 582 3000

This was on 2/19/81 and things may have changed since then.

-- 
Phil Ngai, {ucbvax,decwrl,allegra}!amdcad!phil or amdcad!phil@decwrl.dec.com