Computer systems: a programmer's perspective

"This book (known as CS:APP) is for computer scientists, computer engineers, and others who want to be able to write better programs by learning what is going on “under the hood” of a computer system. The aim of the text is to explain the enduring concepts underlying all computer systems, and to show the concrete ways that these ideas affect the correctness, performance, and utility of application programs. Many systems books are written from a builder’s perspective, describing how to implement the hardware or the systems software, including the operating system, compiler, and network interface.



This book is written from a programmer’s perspective, describing how application programmers can use their knowledge of a system to write better programs. Of course, learning what a system is supposed to do provides a good first step in learning how to build one, so this book also serves as a valuable introduction to those who go on to implement systems hardware and software. Most systems books also tend to focus on just one aspect of the system, for example, the hardware architecture, the operating system, the compiler, or the network."