Operating System Development Roadmap (Beginner Path)

How to Follow?

Phase 1: Programming Fundamentals

1.1 C Programming Basics

• Introduction to Programming
• CS50's Introduction to Programming
• Learn C - Interactive Tutorial

• C Programming at LearnCpp

• Basic Syntax and Control Structures

• C Programming Language Tutorial
• W3Schools C Tutorial

• C Language Cheat Sheet

• Variables and Data Types

• C Data Types Guide
• Variables in C Programming
• Practice: Create programs using different data types

1.2 Intermediate C Programming

• Functions and Program Structure
• Functions in C
• Program Structure Tutorial

• Practice: Create modular programs

• Arrays and Strings

• Array Operations in C
• String Handling

• Practice: String manipulation programs

• Pointers Basics

• Understanding Pointers
• Pointer Tutorial
• Practice: Basic pointer operations

1.3 Advanced C Programming

• Advanced Pointer Concepts
• Pointer to Pointer
• Function Pointers

• Practice: Complex pointer programs

• Memory Management

• Dynamic Memory Allocation
• Memory Layout

• Practice: Memory allocation programs

• File Operations

• File Handling in C
• Binary File Operations
• Practice: File handling programs

1.4 Data Structures

• Basic Data Structures
• Arrays and Linked Lists
• Stack and Queue

• Practice: Implement basic data structures

• Advanced Data Structures

• Trees and Graphs
• Hash Tables
• Practice: Implement complex data structures

1.5 Assembly Language Basics

• Introduction to Assembly
• NASM Tutorial
• x86 Assembly Guide

• Practice: Basic assembly programs

• CPU Architecture

• CPU Registers
• Instruction Set Reference

• Practice: Register manipulation

• Memory Addressing

• Memory Addressing Modes
• Segmentation
• Practice: Memory access programs

Phase 2: Computer Architecture

2.1 Basic Computer Organization

• CPU Components
• CPU Architecture

• Instruction Pipeline

• Memory System

• Memory Hierarchy
• Cache Memory

2.2 I/O Systems

• Basic I/O Concepts
• I/O Architecture

• Device Controllers

• Interrupt Handling

• Interrupt Basics
• PIC Programming

Phase 3: Operating System Concepts

3.1 OS Basics

• OS Structure
• OS Components

• System Calls

• Process Management

• Process Concepts
• Thread Management

3.2 Memory Management

• Virtual Memory
• Virtual Memory Concepts

• Page Tables

• Memory Allocation

• Memory Allocation Algorithms
• Paging Implementation

Phase 4: OS Development Basics

4.1 Development Environment

• Tool Setup
• Cross Compiler Setup

• QEMU Installation

• Debugging Tools

• GDB Basics
• OS Debugging Tips

4.2 Bootloader Development

• BIOS Programming
• BIOS Interrupts

• Real Mode

• Protected Mode

• Protected Mode
• GDT Setup

4.3 Basic Kernel Development

• Kernel Entry
• Kernel Basics

• Linking Script

• Basic Drivers

• VGA Text Mode
• Keyboard Driver

Beginner Projects (In Order)

1. Hello World in Assembly

2. Assembly Hello World

3. Basic Bootloader

4. Bootloader Tutorial

5. Simple Kernel

6. Bare Bones

7. Memory Management

8. Writing a PMM

9. Basic Shell

10. Writing a Shell

Online Courses

1. CS50: Introduction to Computer Science
2. Nand2Tetris
3. Introduction to Operating Systems by Georgia Tech
4. MIT OCW 6.828: Operating System Engineering

Books

1. "C Programming Language" by Kernighan and Ritchie
2. "Modern Operating Systems" by Andrew S. Tanenbaum
3. "Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces" by Remzi H. Arpaci-Dusseau
4. "Computer Organization and Design" by Patterson and Hennessy
5. "Operating System Concepts" by Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne

Research Papers

1. "The Evolution of Operating Systems"
2. "Understanding the Linux Virtual Memory Manager"
3. "The Design of the Unix Operating System"
4. "An Overview of the Singularity Project"
5. "Interrupts and Interrupt Handling"

Additional Resources

• OSDev Wiki
• Linux From Scratch
• xv6 Teaching Operating System
• OS Development Series

Community Resources

• OSDev Forums
• Stack Overflow OS Development Tag
• Reddit r/osdev
• OS Development Discord

Development Tools

1. Text Editors/IDEs
2. Visual Studio Code with C/C++ extension
3. Eclipse CDT

4. CLion

5. Debugging Tools

6. GDB
7. BOCHS Debugger

8. QEMU Monitor

9. Build Tools

10. Make
11. CMake

12. NASM/YASM

13. Testing Tools

14. Unit Testing Frameworks
15. QEMU for OS Testing
16. VirtualBox for Testing

Next Steps After Completion

1. Study existing OS codebases
2. Contribute to open-source OS projects
3. Explore advanced topics:
4. Real-time operating systems
5. Embedded systems
6. Distributed systems