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

[Paul McJones]

Another "data point" suggests that by 1951 the term was well 
established, because it was used in the title of what was apparently the 
first book on programming:

/The preparation of programs for an electronic digital computer/
by Wilkes, Wheeler, and Gill


Paul McJones


Roger Neil Barton wrote:
> 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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