[SIGCIS-Members] Origin of the words 'program' and 'programming'?

[Roger Neil Barton]

The OED (which is usually not very good on anything technological) gives the 
following etymology.  My studies on this go back to 1965 and I vaguely 
remember being taught that government programs and network analysis came 
into it somewhere.

9. a. A sequence of operations that a machine can be set to perform 
automatically.

1942 J. W. MAUCHLY Use High Speed Vacuum Tube Devices for Calculating (Moore 
School of Electr. Engin., Univ. Pennsylvania) in B. Randell Origins Digital 
Computers (1973) 330 Mechanical devices..see to it that the numerical result 
from an operation in one machine is properly transferred to some other 
machine, which is selected by a suitable program device;..this program 
device is capable of arranging a cycle of different transfers and operations 
in each cycle. 1945 J. P. ECKERT et al. Descr. ENIAC (PB 86242) (Moore 
School of Electr. Engin., Univ. of Pennsylvania) 1 The intended use of the 
ENIAC is to compute large families of solutions all based on the same 
program of operations. 1954 Amer. Machinist 25 Oct. 136/1 The operator..sets 
a combination of switches calling for table movements equivalent to 
blueprint dimensions, or a 'program', then presses a starting button. 1962 
E. BRUTON Automation vi. 74 An automatic washing machine may be designed to 
wash for four minutes, empty, and spin-dry for ten. This is its programme.
    b. Now usu. in form program. A series of coded instructions and 
definitions which when fed into a computer automatically directs its 
operation in performing a particular task. Also in extended use: something 
conceived of as encoding and determining a process, esp. genetically.
  stored program: see STORED adj. 1c.
  Cf. quots. 1942, 1945 at sense 9a, in which one can see the beginnings of 
this sense.

1947 Math. Tables & Other Aids to Computation II. 358 An important 
limitation upon programming is that the machine must adhere to a prescribed 
linear course of operation. It cannot at any point choose between two 
subsequent programs on the basis of results already obtained. 1950 Phil. 
Mag. 41 256 The problem of constructing a computing routine or 'program' for 
a modern general purpose computer which will enable it to play chess. 1953 
Proc. IRE 41 1247/1 This conditional instruction makes it possible for the 
programmer to write programs which take different courses of action 
depending upon the results of previous computation. 1960 Times 4 Oct. 
(Computer Suppl.) p. v/3 To prepare this sequence of instructions, or 
program (a spelling now adopted in computer terminology), the programmer 
will have broken down an operation into its simplest elements. 1971 Times 
Lit. Suppl. 4 June 635/2 The next world chess champion could quite 
conceivably be a computer programme.

kind regards
neil

Dr Roger Neil Barton
Visiting Research Fellow, Institute of Historical Research
http://www.uclmail.net/~neil.barton/
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marie Gevers" <mge at info.fundp.ac.be>
To: <members at sigcis.org>
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2009 3:34 PM
Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Origin of the words 'program' and 'programming'?


Could anybody tell me when and in which circumstances the words
'program' and 'programming' did appear?

Marie Gevers

Dr. Marie d'UDEKEM-GEVERS
Chargée d'enseignement et maître de conférence
Conseillère à la formation

Faculté d'Informatique
Facultes Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix
Rue Grandgagnage 21
B.5000 Namur
Belgique
Tél.:  32 (0) 81 72 49 73
FAX : 32 (0) 81 72 49 67
http://www.fundp.ac.be/universite/personnes/page_view/01001574/





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