11–20 of 86 posts
Some kinds of understanding involve a no shortcuts grind. That sort of a grind is a big commitment though.
Great idea. What other code bases are there that lend themselves to this? Some kind of curated genius.com for source code would be interesting.
For operating systems I would recommend xv6: > https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.828/2016/xv6.html
I wonder where best to start for people who haven't taken an OS class before?
Great idea. What other code bases are there that lend themselves to this? Some kind of curated genius.com for source code would be interesting.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
For operating systems I would recommend xv6: > https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.828/2016/xv6.html
With the caveat that xv6 is more artificial, it's a codebase for teaching not a living one.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The best start would be to read a book about operating systems such as Tanenbaums. Reading the source of an OS has a really really low signal to noise ratio in getting important knowledge about operating systems due to implementation details an OS-specific peculiarities.
What about MINIX? Being a teaching operating system, do you think it may contain less nose and thus be more useful as reading material? (I mean, without the book)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
With the caveat that xv6 is more artificial, it's a codebase for teaching not a living one.
In the past every two years a new version was released - so I would not call it "not living". By personal correspondence with one of the xv6 authors concerning a somewhat larger patch for xv6 (which he liked), he told me that they consider to release a new version in fall 2017, which would be one year after the previous release.
I love this idea in part because it's the very opposite of the way I tend to work, which is to drive very hard to get a surface understanding of a thing in order to make a very targeted change. I learn lots along the way with this approach, but don't often get the deep, wholistic understanding of existing systems that only comes with repeated exposure over a long time. Some kinds of understanding involve a no shortcu…
You have a production bias to learn only what you need to immediately get your job done, rather than investing time to learn up front which could potentially be more efficient in the long run.
Great idea. What other code bases are there that lend themselves to this? Some kind of curated genius.com for source code would be interesting.