Modern Operating Systems – 5th Edition

Andrew S. Tanenbaum has an SB. degree from MI.T. and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. He is currently a Professor Emeritus of Com- puter Science at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He was formerly Dean of the Advanced School for Computing and Imaging, an interuni- versity graduate school doing research on advanced parallel, distributed, and imag- ing systems. He was also an Academy Professor of the Royal Netherlands Acade- my of Arts and Sciences, which has saved him from turning into a bureaucrat. He also won a prestigious European Research Council Advanced Grant.

In the past, he has done research on compilers, reliable operating systems, net- working, and distributed systems. This research has led to over 200 refereed pub- lications in journals and conferences. Prof. Tanenbaum has also authored or co- authored five books, which have been translated into over 20 languages, ranging from Basque to Thai. They are used at universities all over the world. There are 163 versions of his books.

Prof. Tanenbaum has also produced a considerable volume of software, no- tably MINIX, a small UNIX clone. It was the direct inspiration for Linux and the platform on which Linux was initially developed. The current version of MINIX, called MINIX 3, is now focused on being an extremely reliable and secure operat- ing system. Prof. Tanenbaum will consider his work done when no user has any idea what an operating system crash is. MINIX 3 is an ongoing open-source pro- ject to which you are invited to contribute. Go to www.minix3.org to download a free copy of MINIX 3 and give it a try. Both x86 and ARM versions are available. Prof. Tanenbaum's Ph.D. students have gone on to greater glory after graduat- ing. Some have become professors; others have fulfilled leading roles in govern- ment organizations and industry. He is very proud of them. In this respect, he resembles a mother hen.