Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces
Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces by Remzi Arpaci-Dusseau and Andrea Arpaci-Dusseauby Remzi Arpaci-Dusseau and Andrea Arpaci-Dusseau
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 4 operating systems textbooks
Free online, well-written introduction to operating systems that readers praise as clear, practical and genuinely educational; paid print copies are available.
Free online, well-written introduction to operating systems that readers praise as clear, practical and genuinely educational; paid print copies are available.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 92%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 11 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Free, high-quality learning material
“the authors charge for physical copies and complete documents but generally make the work content available for free”
Comment from 22 Apr 2026 in “Books Are Not Remotely Too Expensive” “Free, high quality learning materials like this are an absolute treasure”
Comment from 10 Jun 2026 in “Textbooks Should Be Free” Clear, well-written and educational
“The 3 piece book OS was very refreshing and I actually learned stuff”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “Software Internals Book Club” “OSTEP is genuinely one of the best OS resources out there.”
Comment from 10 Jun 2026 in “Textbooks Should Be Free” “Used that book in OS classes, absolutely loved it.”
Comment from 10 Jun 2026 in “Textbooks Should Be Free”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Can get boring over time
“the three piece book got very boring after a bit of reading”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “Software Internals Book Club”
Other operating systems textbooks people recommend
The three most recommended other operating systems textbooks, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating Systems: Three Easy Piecesby Remzi Arpaci-Dusseau and Andrea Arpaci-DusseauThis page | 11 | 1 | 92% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Operating Systems: Design and Implementationby WOODHULL TANENBAUM | 7 | 2 | 78% | 4 | — | — |
| Windows Internalsby Mark E. Russinovich and David A. Solomon and Alex Ionescu and Andrea Allievi | 6 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principlesby William Stallings | 2 | 2 | 50% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
13 of the 14 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Principles can be studied from "Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces“ book”
“I am now reading through the excellent OSTEP book”
“Should be a good basis for kernel hacking.”
“Used that book in OS classes, absolutely loved it.”
“OSTEP is genuinely one of the best OS resources out there.”
“Free, high quality learning materials like this are an absolute treasure”
“there's plenty out there to learn from”
“The 3 piece book OS was very refreshing and I actually learned stuff”
“the three piece book got very boring after a bit of reading”
“Three Easy Pieces is great BTW”
“it's quite nice to know that unless for performance reason, I could use decades old computers and be OK”
“the authors charge for physical copies and complete documents but generally make the work content available for free”
“This book is awesome and well worth reading.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.