I have (in fact several times over) explained in principle how X-Windows works. Use the search function of this forum and you will find a few threads with such explanations.

OK, but notice: there is a sharp distinguation between a desktop envionment and a window manager. They do different things. You might want to clarify what exactly you are up to first before making further plans.

This is, in general terms, a commendable strategy. However (i don't know aewm at all), i suppose the one you chose to base your studies on is a rather uncommon one (i haven't even heard of it yet) and that may be so for a reason.

You might want to look at "mwm", the "Motif Window Manager", which is part of Motif. As far as i ever needed its documentation (conceded, i never thought about writing my own wm) it was very complete. It might be worth a try.

This is not so bad - most good books on, say, TCP/IP or UNIX architecture - are of the same age. This is because the principles on which many UNIX parts are based upon are so powerful that they - despite their implementation being completely different today - still work the same way they did 30 years ago. If you look at cars you see that they are very different from the ones 30 years ago, but they still have a steering wheel, an accelerator pedal, a clutch, a gearbox, etc. - so, in some sense, they still work the same way they did back then and a book from 1980 about how cars work will - in this respect - still be up-to-date.

I hope this helps.

bakunin