Andrew Tanenbaum

Andrew Stuart “Andy” Tanenbaum is a researcher and teaching in data processing.

Biography

He is born with New York in 1944 and passes his childhood to White Plains, NY. He obtains a bachelor' S off dismantles Massachusetts Institute Technology (MIT), then his doctorate of the Université of Berkeley in 1971.

He moves then with the Netherlands, the fatherland of his wife, while keeping his American citizenship. He is currently with the head of the department of the Computing systems of the free Université of Amsterdam ( Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam ). He gives to it a teaching centered in particular on the Operating systems.

The pedagog

He has very an high level of knowledge (related to its activity of researcher) and combines an extraordinary talent in pedagogy and popularization.

He is famous for his publications, whose principal ones are:

  • Computer Networks , ISBN 0130661023 (in French: Networks )
  • Operating Systems: Design and Implementation , ISBN 0136386776
  • Modern Operating Systems , ISBN 0130313580 (in French: Operating systems )
  • Architecture of the computer

Each one of these pounds describes in a very detailed way (from 600 to 1.000 pages):

  • basic concepts and concepts;
  • traditional problems of data-processing engineering;
  • various possible solutions;
  • of many diagrams;
  • etc

For little that the reader arms himself with a certain patience, it can thus be initiated with complex and precise concepts; the style is precise, teaching, full with humor. Each one of these books represents one of the principal “sums” in its field.

The originator of operating systems

Andrew Tanenbaum developed several operating systems:

  • Earth
  • Ameba
  • MINIX, which remained most famous of all, in particular to be the system which took part in the " naissance" of Linux

Minix

Minix is a free clone of UNIX, created with a view to its teaching. This one had a certain success in the medium of the students in data processing, because it was light (a partition of 20 Mo is enough to install it, like 512 KB with 2 Mo of Random access memory), easy to read and include/understand.

The book Operating Systems: Design and Implementation was accompanied by the complete source code of Minix.

Minix and Linux

Origins of Linux

Certain users of Minix, who appreciated it for his teaching virtues, were dissatisfied for other reasons, and in particular for its technical limitations; these limitations were wanted, because Tanenbaum wanted that the code remains readable, simple and elegant.

This dissatisfaction was for Linus Torvalds, a student Finnish, an incentive to develop a new operating system, which it called initially Freax, before it becomes Linux.

The debate

Linus Torvalds had read and appreciated Operating Systems: Design and Implementation , but their points of view on what must be an operating system diverged completely on the crucial question from nature from the core: monolithic or Micronucleus. Andrew Tanenbaum declared on several occasions that the future of the operating systems rested on the micronucleus, such as for example the Hurd or Mach, and not on a monolithic core like Linux.

An ignited debate took place, which ends up calming down. Today, Tanenbaum recognizes without rancour qualities of Linux, which he abundantly comments on in Operating systems . It is also starting from Linux that it unquestionably defines its “historical” role in a public which does not know it: I wrote MINIX, the precursor to Linux (“I wrote MINIX, the precursor of Linux”).

The “votemaster”

In 2004, it creates Electoral-vote.com, a popular Web site analyzing all the Sondage S of opinion available for the presidential Election of the United States of America 2004 in order to envisage the composition of the electoral College of the United States.

During the majority of the countryside it kept her secret identity under the name of “Votemaster”, grateful however a personal preference for John Kerry. It is only on November 1st, 2004, the day before election, that it revealed it, indicating to the passage its motivations and its competences having led it to create this site Votemaster-FAQ.

In 2006, the Electoral-vote.com site is again used for the elections of semi-mandate for the senate and the Parliament.

Turtle F2F

It is the Co-developer of the software Turtle F2F which makes it possible to anonymously communicate in a made safe way, of Ami to friend.

External bonds

  • Personal site

  • Dept. off Systems Computer - CONSIDERING
  • Discussion on Usenet with Linus Torvalds - Google Groups
    • Return on its discussion with Linus Torvalds
  • Electoral-vote.com

Be-X-old: ЭндруТаненбаўм

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