Writing an operating system in C++ [closed]

Answer 1

I am not familiar with details, but by my knowledge BeOS was written in C++. Sources should be freeley available as well as the documentation.

Answer 2

A usable operating system can be developed on the top of L4, even by a single student in one semester along with other courses (but with all driver issues already resolved). If found this being a great adventure, and the L4 microkernel is also kind of advanced.

Answer 3

Be careful, C++ is pretty heavyweight for an OS kernel.

• There are services like exceptions that you'll have to support with a runtime library.
• It won't feel like C++ until you add a heap.
• Kernels are very sensitive to where objects are allocated; the one-heap model usually used in C++ isn't really suitable.
• Coupling APIs to data structures is a bad idea. BeOS had problems with this. You need to hide the size of your internal structures from users, and that means jumping through hoops (Pimpl, private constructor, virtual functions) when APIs are member functions.

It sounds like you're already further along than most, so keep asking questions and you'll probably end up somewhere nice! :vD

Answer 4

You may consider looking at MINIX which is a small operating system for x86 systems. It was originally designed as a teaching project and has evolved into something that's intended to be useful in the real world.

Answer 5

Tutorials and Articles for OS developers.

Answer 6

Here's a ton of information that you'll eventually need, the dreaded OS programming FAQ.