Concurrency is at the heart of many topics within computer science and is the focus of this book from Jean Bacon. The successful straightfoward approach, coupled with new material on operating system functions, synchronization, shared memory, middleware, mobile computing and transaction processing will make this book a key core text for courses on concurrent or distributed systems The coverage in this third edition is now wholly relevant to a distributed computing course It provides students with the most up-to-date knowledge of the theory behind modern distributed systems, enabling them to move seamlessly from a first programming course to being able to program operating systems. The book is also suitable for self-study or distance learning and has been proven on a user base of many thousands of students.