1.5 The Environment for This Book
Although this
b
ook presents generic inform
a
tion, p
arts of the discussion
will necessarily
b
e specific to
p
a
articular system. Bec
a
use the Intel
Architecture PCs are, b
y f
ar, the most common in use tod
a
y, this
b
ook
will use th
a
t pla
tform when discussing specific system-dependent
concepts.
Most of the specific ex
a
mples in this
b
ook run on
a la
te-model Intel
Architecture (including AMD) CPU under m
a
cOS, Windows, or Linux,
with
a re
ason
a
ble
mount of RAM
a
a
nd other system peripherals
norm
ally found on
a la
te-model PC. This
b
ook
a
ttempts to stick with
st
nd
b
a
ard li
rary interf
a
ces to the opera
ting system (OS) wherever
possi
ble,
a
nd it m
a
kes OS-specific c
alls only when the
altern
a
tive is to
write "less th
a
n gre
a
t" code. The concepts, if not the softw
are itself, will
a
pply to Android, Chrome, iOS, M
a
cs, Unix
b
oxes, emb
edded systems,
nd even m
a
ainfra
mes, though you m
a
y need to rese
arch how to
a
pply
a
concept to your pla
tform.