Re: [RFC] HOWTO do Linux kernel development - take 2

Alistair John Strachan
2005-11-16T02:01:43Z

On Wednesday 16 November 2005 01:46, Coywolf Qi Hunt wrote:
> 2005/11/16, Greg KH <greg@kroah.com>:
> > On Wed, Nov 16, 2005 at 01:23:48AM +0100, Adrian Bunk wrote:
> > > > Introduction
> > > > ------------
> > > >...
> > > > The kernel is written mostly in C, with some architecture-dependent
> > > > parts written in assembly. A good understanding of C is required for
> > > > kernel development. Assembly (any architecture) is not required
> > > > unless you plan to do low-level development for that architecture.
> > > > Though they are not a good substitute for a solid C education and/or
> > > > years of experience, the following books are good for, if anything,
> > > > reference: - "The C Programming Language" by Kernighan and Ritchie
> > > > [Prentice Hall] - "Practical C Programming" by Steve Oualline
> > > > [O'Reilly]
> > > > - "Programming the 80386" by Crawford and Gelsinger [Sybek]
> > > > - "UNIX Systems for Modern Architectures" by Curt Schimmel [Addison
> > > > Wesley]
> > >
> > > "UNIX Systems for Modern Architectures" is a good book about cpu
> > > caches.
> > >
> > > But it's hardly interesting for the average driver writer and even less
> > > a book about C programming.
> >
> > True, I've removed it now, thanks.
>
> Also why you have to mention those non-free books here? I don't read
> them and I live OK. There's plenty of free information one can always
> find on the net.
[snip]

Some people just prefer a hard copy (which obviously can't be produced for
nothing) instead of an on-line reference. I think google.com is already a
fairly obvious (almost instinctive) answer to any question these days.

Books vary in quality and comprehensiveness, recommendations are incredibly
useful for somebody faced with buying into a subject he has no real knowledge
of.

--
Cheers,
Alistair.

'No sense being pessimistic, it probably wouldn't work anyway.'
Third year Computer Science undergraduate.
1F2 55 South Clerk Street, Edinburgh, UK.