Inside Windows NT

by Helen Custer and David A. Solomon

Book Overview

The eagerly awaited second edition of this well-known volume provides the best architectural overview of Mircosoft Windows NT, making it an important road map for Windows NT developers and for... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1572316772
• ISBN13: 9781572316775
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Microsoft Press
• Length: 560 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 7.4" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Excellent Technically and Pedagogically

A lot of OS internal type of books talk and talk, even though most of them are indeed technically superb. But Inside Windows NT is special in that the author knows humans have to practice to learn. After you read a few pages, you come to an Experiment section and see what comes on screen if you do this and that. For non-systems programmer like me, this may be the only book to satisfy my curiosity to know more about Windows NT.

Terrific!

This book is an absolute must-have, whether you're a programmer or an NT administrator (although the former will get more out of it). The only gripe I have with the book is that the chapter on security is really weak (about 1/3 the length of every other chapter)--if you're looking for a detailed programmatic discussion of NT security, pick up Kevin Miller's "NT Services" (Wrox Press). This book isn't about security per se, but its chapter on security is terrific. Sorry for the digression, Inside WinNT is screaming to sit on your shelf now!

Superb coverage of all features

It's difficult to get a better introduction to all features of Windows NT. Helen Custer does an excellent job of mentioning (almost) all of the architectural details of NT in a very readable way. An extremely informative and interesting book.

A must-read for NT systems professionals

David Solomon's long-awaited update to Helen Custer's original survey of the Microsoft Windows NT operating system is an excellent guide to the internals of the operating system for programmers, systems administrators, and other computer professionals. At 500+ pages, it is chock full of great information about NT that is simply unavailable from any other source. Profusely illustrated and full of very good examples. Custer's original "Inside Windows NT" book was always long on self-congratulations (she apparently was the official "historian" of the project), but short on the kinds of detail that makes hackers drool. It was also written to NT version 3, and is now considerably out to date. Solomon's revision is a total rewrite that remedies this situation. The book is current on NT 4.0, and even contains a good chapter on upcoming changes in NT 5.0. This book definitely belongs on any Windows NT programmer's bookshelf. Solomon writes in the introduction that he was given access to NT source code, and he demonstrates how to use the kernel debugger to decipher what is happening inside the operating system. Even so, he manages to keep the presentation lively and informative. He also reports he had access to the NT developers themselves to review what he had written, which guarentees the accuracy of the book. In several areas I found concise explanations of features that other less well-connected authors and experts had written either in a vague or contradictory way. I am very grateful for Solomon's book clearing up the confusion in these areas.

Easy to read overview of the internals of NT

I found this book was very well written and very readable. Ideal for someone who wants to understand how some of the internal black magic of NT works. Perfect for developers who want to get closer to the machine. For intermediates and above. Goes to a reasonable level detail.