Re: [mb offtopic] Choose future direction of development and deeperlearning.

[Kashif Shaikh <kshaikh@consensys.com>]

Yeah, I find myself in the same situation.  I mean, I want to learn 
everything about the kernel, but it is just so huge and constantly 
evolving. I
wanted to learn the boot, mm, net, fs, drivers, etc.  Then I concluded, 
I was spreading myself too thin to actually master anything.

I guess in order to appreciate the Linux kernel, one has to know what 
makes an OS an OS.  Know what makes a good OS through reading books, 
whitepapers, and examining existing OS implementations(i.e. what does 
FreeBSD do better than linux?).  Also find what makes an OS bad in some 
cases(i.e. in older Mac OS, there was no memory protection between 
processes).

Personally, when I was reading some OS books by Tanenbaum, I kinda liked 
memory and the vm-subsystem.  I also liked process-related 
stuff(scheduling, migration, etc).  This translates into me learning the 
core of Linux(mm,process, etc).  Of course, you can't learn anything by 
just reading code, so I'm trying to hack in distributed shared memory 
and see what else I can find on the way;)

btw, anyone know of any good OS books that also examines existing OS 
implementations(ie. Solaris)?

-- Kashif


Evgeniy Polyakov wrote:

>Hello, kernel newbies and even some hackers.
>
>I think this question is probably for experinced kernel programmers...
>Or maybe not.
>
>Anyway...
>
>I know linux some years(not very many, but...), kernel programming a
>little more than a year. But even with such a little knowledge i see,
>that modern kernel cotains start point for very, very large amount of
>projects. Of cource, it is not very easy to start and develop usefull
>feature, but it _can_ be done.
>And staying on the edge of this _adventure_ not experinced man(like me)
>loses one's presence of mind( Brr, what's the word...)...
>Another word he doesn't know, where he wants to work.
>No, i don't ask about one more project for newbie...
>There are great number of interesting things, which can be done, one
>should only looks a bit deeper.
>But where?
>(not in particular order... :) ) mm, usb, fs, block, network, sound,
>core, char, video... I don't remeber all, but it doesn't matter...
>
>Please, let anyone says, why he works exactly there and not there,
>what are the advantages and disadvantages of each area of kernel
>development.
>
>Since while staying and determining what is the best, time slowly goes
>away... First step to the guruism should be done not in all directions.
>
>Sorry, if such kind of questions plague you.
>
>I hope you will help me and, i think, many other people :)
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>P.S. Please, cc me in you answers, since i'm not a subscriber :(
>



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