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OS X Kernel Overview

Posted by timothy on from the well-done-online-book dept.

Don Negro writes: "Found this on Apple's Developer site. A solid overview of the OS X kernel - what bits are Mach, what bits are BSD - and a good level a detail. This is the first installment. As they say in the introduction 'Only you can prevent kernel panics.'"

1 of 28 comments (clear)

  1. I was going to read it... by Sentry21 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I opened the link and read through the introductions, with the intent of reading. I'm a middling-to-pathetic C/C++ programmer, and I figured it might be interesting to join into the kernelnewbies project - then this came out.

    Now, I'm scared. Honestly, after reading through that introduction, I'm scared to touch kernel code. Hell, I'm scared to look at it.

    I think Apple did a great job with this document. They don't want anyone writing code unless they know EXACTLY what they're doing (the code, they say, has to be well nigh perfect), so they put in as much intimidation as they can manage without being overly conspicuous.

    The newbies will be scared, the people with no confidence (like myself; I don't remember ever compiling warningless code on the first go; if I'm writing something complex, I'll miss a }, if I'm writing Hello World I'll forget to #include) will be scared. The only people who will even think about trying their hand at kernel programming are Gods and fools.

    Good job Apple, you really know how to screw with heads. ;>

    --Dan