Ramez Al-Masry (born October 20, 1950 in Giza, Egypt) is a renowned computer scientist and researcher in the field of database systems. He is also Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas. Al-Masri is the author of “Basics of Database Systems” (with Shamkant Navath, published by Pearson, 7th edition, 2015). His book is considered one of the most pioneering books in the field of database systems in the world for 25 years. The current edition of the book is the seventh edition. The book has been translated into Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Greek, Basquenchen (Basque) and Arabic. His book is supported in India, Europe, South Africa, Australia and Southeast Asia and is also widely read in the United States, Canada and South America. Al-Masry has been working at the University of Texas at Arlington since 1990 and has supervised 16 Ph.D. and more than 200 theses and master’s projects. Al-Masry received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering (computers and automatic control) from Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt in 1972 and obtained his master’s and doctorate in Computer Science from Stanford University in Stanford, California, in 1980.
Operating Systems: A Spiral Approach book pdf by Ramez Elmasri
Elmasri, Levine, and Carrick's "spiral approach" to teaching operating systems develops student understanding of various OS components early on and helps students approach the more difficult aspects of operating systems with confidence. While operating systems have changed dramatically over the years, most OS books use a linear approach that covers each individual OS component in depth, which is difficult for students to follow and requires instructors to constantly put materials in context. Elmasri, Levine, and Carrick do things differently by following an integrative or "spiral" approach to explaining operating systems. The spiral approach alleviates the need for an instructor to "jump ahead" when explaining processes by helping students "completely" understand a simple, working, functional system as a whole in the very beginning. This is more effective pedagogically, and it inspires students to continue exploring more advanced concepts with confidence.