Network and System Administration usually refers only to the traditional skills and recipes for keeping computers and networks running properly. But, in truth, this view omits the most important part of the system: humans. The skill needed to comprehend and tame systems comprising both humans and machines is that of managing complexity. In this book, first written in 2002 and updated now, Mark Burgess summarizes the scientific foundations for modelling resources,efficiency, and security of human-machine systems. The lessons learned from this volume led to the development of Promise Theory, covered in volume 2, and represent a significant step forward in describing functional systems with a multiscale approach that embodies both dynamics and semantics.

This book serves as guide to graduate students and researchers in the development of a new science of systems, and further illustrates practical tools for engineers at the top of their field. Although it tackles many complicated issues, the book takes the form of an overview, in lecture form.

This open book is licensed under a Open Publication License (OPL). You can download A Treatise on Systems (volume 1) ebook for free in PDF format (2.6 MB).