Monograph Series on Advanced Computing Systems

[Marc Donner]

The USENIX association intends to publish books and monographs
on the general topic of computing systems.  The intended audience
for these books is the community of system designers, builders,
users, and scholars.  Our intent is to publish material of lasting
interest and importance, with an emphasis on actual systems.  Subjects
may include design, implementation, history, and analysis of real
systems.  While we are inspired by UNIX and UNIX-inspired systems, we
do not expect to limit our attention to such systems in any way, as we
see ourselves responsible to the entire systems community.

We see several specific needs that we would like to satisfy and
for which we solicit manuscripts.  The needs fall in two areas -
books in traditional styles and formats about topics important to
the systems community and things new or unusual.

Among things new or unusual, we are interested in exploring at least these
ideas:

Significant systems - many significant systems are documented, if at all, only
   in reference manuals or user guides.  Journal publications often concentrate
   on narrow specific details, as is appropriate for focussed technical
   audiences.  What is lost is the broad description of the design and
   its evolution, with consideration of the success and failure of
   specific features and lessons learned.

Code - We are interested in exploring the possibilities of publishing
   code to read.  A truism among the programming community is that one learns
   to write good programs by reading good and bad programs.  Sadly,
   there is little code available to read.  The recent interest in
   public-domain code and open systems has increased the quantity
   of high-quality source code available.  Many open questions in the
   publication of code remain to be explored.  The conventional codex
   form, long accepted as appropriate for literary works and texts, may
   not be the right one for programs.  Very few experiments have
   been made with this form, something that we hope to encourage.  The
   audience for published code includes serious students of systems,
   including both the undergraduate and advanced levels, and practitioners
   involved with development, modification, and analysis of actual systems.

Important technical reports - many important technical reports,
   issued in small numbers by industrial organizations, research
   labs, or university departments, are not disseminated as widely
   as they merit.  This is often because the originating organization
   doesn't have the resources or the will to publish them more widely
   and because the material is deemed inappropriate by commercial
   publishers because of its narrow scope or limited size.  Many technical
   reports are too large for journal publication and too small for
   conventional book publication.  We hope to provide a means of
   publication and distribution of the best of these.

To submit a manuscript or proposal for consideration for the Monograph
Series, send a copy to
   
   Monograph Editor
   USENIX Association
   2560 Ninth Street, Suite 215
   Berkeley, CA 94710

or send electronic mail to

   monographs at usenix.org