In this succinct text, authors Bic and Shaw respond to the major shift from single-processor to distributed and parallel computer systems. Their book is the first of its kind to integrate those fundamental ideas, principles and concepts that remain constant in both centralized and distributed computing even as new and more advanced systems are introduced. Of benefit to both the professional and the student, the text presents numerous examples, from commercial and research operating systems, to clearly illustrate the relevance of specific concepts. BENEFICIAL FEATURES: *Emphasis on key concepts provides a solid knowledge base, one that will remain relevant regardless of advances in systems. *Unix, Linux, Windows and other case studies throughout the text illustrate the relevance of the principles and concepts in real-world systems. *Frequent, concrete examples are presented in a readily comprehensible form to reinforce understanding of the principles and concepts. *Processes and threads for concurrency and parallelism are covered from the programming perspective in Chapters 2 and 3, while Chapters 4 and 5 present implementation issues.