Building an Operating System

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#1

I am looking into building an Operating System,
Doing my research I have found most places say you need to learn C.
Is this true, or could I use something like Java, they seem very similar?

If I do need to know C, can anyone recommend a good place to learn about it?

I hope this is the right topic category, I was not entirely sure.

#2

In theory - any language that is turing complete. In Practice you are going to use assembly and c/c++

C is closer to the hardware and compiles instructions that are performant enough for the requirements demanded of an os. To properly boot a system you will probably have to arrange some assembly. Java is designed to generate bytecode not specialized machine code.

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#3

Hello @8-bitgaming,

This is a very complex area of Computer Science. That being said, it can be undertaken, and, of course, has been undertaken.

As @fight_dragons has stated, C is closer to the hardware and, I believe, this is what early UNIX-based systems were coded in.

To learn C, I’d recommend you take a look at this book:

This is recognised as the gold-standard for the language, despite it being over 40 years old.

In addition to this, I’ve linked an academic article from a university local to me that expresses how to write a simple operating system. Just be aware that this is an academic article and will most likely presume prior knowledge on certain subjects:

Happy coding and good luck,

Richard.

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#4

Thank y’all very much :grinning:

I know I am a long way off from being able to build one, but I figured if I want to do it, I better start somewhere.

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#5

Have you checked out something like http://www.linuxfromscratch.org

Might help give you an idea of the architecture of an OS.

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#6

Looks very interesting, thanks for the link!

#7

Hey, I am also building an OS right now as my project which I am going to submit in college. If you don’t mind, can we work together?
I am using this (also posted by digital0457018858) book and also referring to this YouTube series

#8

Well to be 100% honest, I don’t think I could be much help to yet. I’m still learning the ins and outs of just the C language and have barely glanced at languages like Assembly. I thank you for the offer, but I don’t think I could assist you on that low level of software yet.

#9

Okay then, no worries!