Mac OS X Internals: A Systems Approach
reviewed by Robert Pritchett
Author: Amit Singh Addison-Wesley Professional http://www.awprofessional.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=0321278542&rl=1 http://osxbook.com/book/bonus/chapter1/ $65 USD, $96 CND, £36 GBP, 58,45Û Euro Published: June 19, 2006 Pages: 1,680 ISBN: 0321278542 Requirements: A desire to want to see the underbelly of Mac OS X. For application programmers and anybody else who wants to look at the nuts and bolts of Mac OS X up close and personal. Strengths: Mac OS X-specific. Weaknesses: None found. Book Blog: http://www.osxbook.com/blog/ Book Forums: http://www.osxbook.com/forums/ Other Reviews: http://www.osxbook.com/book/reviews/ |
|
Mac OS X Internals: A Systems Approach by Amit Singh has got to be about the biggest and heaviest book IÕve ever come across that deals directly with Mac OS X and its long development history and all the parts and pieces that make it work.
The preface describes what is in each of the 12 chapters and the Appendix discusses the differences between Mac OS X and how it works on a PowerPC-based system vs. an x86-based system. However, true to form, most of Mac OS X is CPU-independent and this is described in the book, including EFI, GUID-based partitioning and even Universal Binaries.
In the history part, IÕd almost forgotten about such things as MkLinux and all the various Òfalse-startsÓ Apple went through before settling on what we have in Mac OS X today. Some of the earlier systems I had not even heard of before (Star Trek, Raptor, TaIOS).
And if you want to know how Mac OS X got its Mach back, just read about the Mach factors with RochesterÕs Intelligent Gateway, Accent, Mach, MkLinux, Pink, Red and even Rhapsody.
I really enjoy how Amit Singh organized the information in this book. It is not overtly geeky. It is immensely readable well, at least until the later chapters that are filled with tables and code segments – but that is why you would want to read this book, right? Think Apple documentation put together by a carbon-based unit that not only can read well, but can write well.
Even non-Mac-based and educated folks will want to get this book. Who knows? They might even learn how to do security code from the ground up. Ya think?
Not only that, but this book has a Blog and Forums to go with it. And that is why I give this heavy tome a 5.
