Currently showing entries with the tag: Win32 API
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Book Review: Microsoft Windows Internals
August 12, 2007 • 1:06AM • permalink
Microsoft Windows Internals by David Solomon and Mark Russinovich dictates the internals of multiple parts of the Windows operating system, mainly focusing on Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 (including 64-bit versions and any IA-64 specifics). 
The book is directed at Operating System and Device Driver developers and every concept coupled with specific Win32 API functions or kernel variables that can be used to follow along or test out the concepts it presents. Additionally, sysadmins will be able to use the book as a very low-level reference manual since the kernel variables are matched up to performance counters that can be viewed using the standard Windows Performance Monitor.
The book moves from the basic systems that power the operating system using a layering technique to build your knowledge of Windows as you read. Startup, shutdown, processes, threads, virtual memory, security, I/O, caching and more - and then ending with the higher-level support that Windows provides for networking and a simple crash analysis of a basic BSoD (Blue-Screen-of-Death). The book also touches on several protocols like TCP/IP, uPnP and NTFS which helps give developers an overall understanding of how the different systems work together to drive the Windows user experience.
Occasionally it reads like a bloated advertisement for Russinovich's SysInternals toolset (http://www.sysinternals.com) - that is until you take the time to download any of the tools. Process Explorer in particular is one of the most valuable Windows Tools I've ever encountered and eliminates any need for the primitive Task Manager that you might have had in the past. The tools are used throughout the text in experiments that illustrate various parts of the Windows kernel.
The book moves from the basic systems that power the operating system using a layering technique to build your knowledge of Windows as you read. Startup, shutdown, processes, threads, virtual memory, security, I/O, caching and more - and then ending with the higher-level support that Windows provides for networking and a simple crash analysis of a basic BSoD (Blue-Screen-of-Death). The book also touches on several protocols like TCP/IP, uPnP and NTFS which helps give developers an overall understanding of how the different systems work together to drive the Windows user experience.
Occasionally it reads like a bloated advertisement for Russinovich's SysInternals toolset (http://www.sysinternals.com) - that is until you take the time to download any of the tools. Process Explorer in particular is one of the most valuable Windows Tools I've ever encountered and eliminates any need for the primitive Task Manager that you might have had in the past. The tools are used throughout the text in experiments that illustrate various parts of the Windows kernel.
A screenshot of Process Explorer.
Additionally, the humor of Solomon and Russinovich keep an otherwise boring subject more interesting than it should be, including which Registry key is spoofed to display the current computer's processor in the Control Panel's System applet and a BSoD Screensaver to install on your co-worker's computers.
To sum it up, this is one of the best books about Windows Development that I've read since Petzold's classic "Programming Windows 95" (Programming Windows 4th edition). Anyone interested in learning more about the fundamentals of Windows development should pick up a copy. A better understanding of the systems underlying your programs will allow for better optimization and performance, as well as a means to perform some "down and dirty" debugging work at the kernel level.
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