Date: Tue, 07 Feb 1995 13:25:06 EST From: "Rob Slade, Social Convener to the Net" Subject: "Dissecting DOS" by Podanoffsky BKDISDOS.RVW 950102 "Dissecting DOS", Podanoffsky, 1995, 0-201-62687-X, U$39.95/C$51.95 %A Michael Podanoffsky mikep@world.std.com %C 1 Jacob Way, Reading, MA 01867-9984 %D 1995 %E Andrew Schulman %G 0-201-62687-X %I Addison-Wesley Publishing Company %O U$39.95/C$51.95 800-822-6339 617-944-3700 Fax: (617) 944-7273 %P 502 %T "Dissecting DOS" As the subtitle says, this is a code-level look at the DOS operating system. This requires extensive citation of source code and, were it to be MS-, PC- or DR-DOS to be displayed, Microsoft, IBM or Novell might take exception to it. In this instance, Podanoffsky presents his own RxDOS system, and explains how MS-DOS differs. Were RxDOS a mere COMMAND.COM replacement such as 4DOS, we could examine command line pursing, program loading or batch file execution. However, as the system contains code from the master boot record on up, the whole of DOS is laid out before us. Chapters cover the structure of DOS, the boot process, file functions, disk reading and writing, file management, process management, memory management and the command processor. The text of the book is generally quite good, but gaps in the material are evident. In some cases this is due to an unfortunate tendency to introduce acronyms early in the text, often without explanation and definition. (A number of these are covered later in the book.) Other missing content is only likely to be covered by examination of the source code. Also, while it is impossible to eliminate all errors from such a work, I do note a number of spelling and typographical errors in the text. These would likely bemuse newcomers to DOS internals. In spite of the errors, a solid addition to the DOS technical library. And a multitasking DOS, to boot. (Well, assemble, at least.) copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995 BKDISDOS.RVW 950102 ====================== DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94311-0/3-540-94311-0