MacDirectory magazine is the premiere creative lifestyle magazine for Apple enthusiasts featuring interviews, in-depth tech reviews, Apple news, insights, latest Apple patents, apps, market analysis, entertainment and more.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/7575
BOOK REVIEWS
46 MacDirectory
MAC OS X INTERNALS: A SYSTEMS APPROACH
REVIEW BY RIC GETTER
Object oriented programming (OOP) is a
comparatively new paradigm based on
discreet and sometimes very simple
blocks of code that can be called and
combined into increasingly powerful
functions which, in turn, are used to build
remarkably sophisticated systems. These
systems can be the building blocks of an
application or layered and further
combined into something as powerful and
elegant as the Mac OS. Amit Singh uses a
very similar method in documenting the
OS in his
Mac OS X Internals: A Systems
Approach
. He explains the machine as a
whole, how the major parts that make it
run, and then in turn, the mechanisms
that make those parts run. It's a task of
epic proportions (the resulting book is
more than 1,600 pages), yet is written and
organized with a level of design genius
that is on a par with its subject matter.
Unlike the original "Classic" Mac OS, which
was detailed from its very inception
through
Inside Macintosh
, a collection of
volumes published by Apple, the
knowledge base for OS X is primarily
online. It's a medium that has its benefits
and limitations. But there remain many
advantages to have virtually all the
essential details compiled in a single
source. In the case of
Mac OS X Internals,
you have the option of possessing that
source either physically or electronically
(or both, considering that the publisher
offers the combination at a very
attractive price).
The opening chapter is a brief technical
history of the Mac OS, culled from a
wonderful document of much greater
detail and depth that is available on
Singh's Web site,