<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">IBM’s Stretch project was considering multiprogramming in the late 1950s, but for example Ted Codd’s 1960 paper:<div class=""><br class=""></div><blockquote style="margin: 0 0 0 40px; border: none; padding: 0px;" class=""><div class="">E. F. Codd. 1960. Multiprogram scheduling: parts 1 and 2. introduction and theory. Commun. ACM 3, 6 (June 1960), 347-350. DOI=<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/367297.367317" class="">http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/367297.367317</a></div></blockquote><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">focussed on the problem of resource optimiztion rather than on the programming abstraction.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Early timesharing work such as CTSS tended to present the idea of a virtualized physical computer, but didn’t necessarily provide a programming interface for creating, destroying, controlling, and communicating with processes. I believe these ideas were “simmering” in the minds of a number of people during the late 1950s and early 1960s.</div><div class=""><br class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Dec 29, 2018, at 8:39 PM, Laurent Bloch <<a href="mailto:lb@laurentbloch.org" class="">lb@laurentbloch.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; float: none; display: inline !important;" class="">Thank you for your answer, Paul. When we think about processes, of</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; float: none; display: inline !important;" class="">course the names of Dijkstra and Hoare come to the mind, but I believe</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; float: none; display: inline !important;" class="">they had precursors, before semaphores and communicating sequential</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; float: none; display: inline !important;" class="">processes. And 1965 seems a bit too late for the birth of the process.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; float: none; display: inline !important;" class="">Le samedi 29 décembre 2018 Paul McJones a écrit ceci :</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><blockquote type="cite" style="font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class="">Laurent,<br class=""><br class="">Edsger Dijkstra’s “Cooperating Sequential Processes" (EWD123) was written in 1965 (<a href="http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd01xx/EWD123.PDF" class="">http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd01xx/EWD123.PDF</a>). His original paper on semaphores (EWD35) was written in Dutch several years before that (<a href="http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD00xx/EWD35.html" class="">http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD00xx/EWD35.html</a>).<br class=""><br class="">By 1965, the term process was becoming fairly well-known in operating systems circles. For example, in a paper presented in 1965, Jack Dennis wrote:<br class=""><br class="">Processes. We consider that the system hardware comprises one or more processors, which we can identify as being distinct from the main memory, the file storage devices and the input/output devices. Each processor is capable of executing algorithms that are specified by sequences of instructions. A process is a locus of control within an instruction sequence. That is, a process is that abstract entity which moves through the instructions of a procedure as the procedure is executed by a processor.<br class=""><br class="">This is from: Jack B. Dennis and Earl C. Van Horn. 1966. Programming semantics for multiprogrammed computations. Commun. ACM 9, 3 (March 1966), 143-155. DOI=<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/365230.365252" class="">http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/365230.365252</a><br class=""><br class=""><br class="">Paul<br class=""><br class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">On Dec 29, 2018, at 8:09 PM, Laurent Bloch <<a href="mailto:lb@laurentbloch.org" class="">lb@laurentbloch.org</a>> wrote:<br class=""><br class="">Le dimanche 30 décembre 2018 Grider, Gary Alan a écrit ceci :<br class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">Hasn’t there been great debate about when the first "stored program" was accomplished? Some said on Maniac by Metropolis but others disagree I think. <br class=""></blockquote><br class="">I would say that the concept of a process may appear when there are more than one program, potentially ready to execute, and in competition to access the processor.<br class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">If that is what you are looking for I am pretty sure it was well before CTSS or Multics. I think CTSS and Multics were in pursuit of time sharing (or multiple stored programs).<br class="">I think the first implementation of process pipes might have been Demos but that was way after CTSS days.<br class=""><br class="">Gary<br class=""><br class="">On 12/29/18, 8:37 PM, "Members on behalf of Laurent Bloch" <<a href="mailto:members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org" class="">members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org</a> on behalf of <a href="mailto:lb@laurentbloch.org" class="">lb@laurentbloch.org</a>> wrote:<br class=""><br class=""> Le samedi 29 décembre 2018 McMillan, William W a écrit ceci :<br class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">"..., my question was about computer processes, i.e. programs in execution ..."<br class=""><br class="">Laurent, do you mean process in the sense of a computer program loaded (at least partially) into primary memory, described by a process control block, and managed by an operating system? <br class=""></blockquote><br class=""> Yes, it is precisely the kind of entity I am asking about. I would say it appears with CTSS or Multics, but I am not sure. Once I read the name of the creator of the concept, but I did not write it down and I forgot, hence my question.<br class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">Or is the topic more broad than that?<br class=""><br class="">Bill<br class=""><br class="">________________________________________<br class="">From: Members [<a href="mailto:members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org" class="">members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org</a>] on behalf of Laurent Bloch [<a href="mailto:lb@laurentbloch.org" class="">lb@laurentbloch.org</a>]<br class="">Sent: Saturday, December 29, 2018 6:03 PM<br class="">To: James Cortada<br class="">Cc: SIGCIS<br class="">Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Invention of the concept of process<br class=""><br class="">Le samedi 29 décembre 2018 James Cortada a écrit ceci :<br class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">It might help to give us some context for your question. For example, if<br class="">interested in process in business, then it emerges in the late 19th century<br class="">and in the second half of the 20th becomes process management, TQM etc. If<br class="">in science, then it is language substituted for what otherwise we all think<br class="">of as the scientific method. Even earlier the notions of methods and<br class="">techniques are embodiments of the idea of process. Hence, my request for<br class="">context. <br class=""></blockquote><br class="">Well, my question was about computer processes, i.e. programs in execution in a computer, sometimes also called tasks.<br class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">On Sat, Dec 29, 2018 at 4:56 PM Laurent Bloch <<a href="mailto:lb@laurentbloch.org" class="">lb@laurentbloch.org</a>> wrote:<br class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">Hi,<br class=""><br class="">Surely many of you know the answer: who invented the concept of process,<br class="">and when?<br class=""><br class="">Thank you for your answers. Have a nice Sunday!<br class=""><br class="">--<br class="">Laurent Bloch - <a href="https://laurentbloch.net" class="">https://laurentbloch.net</a> - <a href="mailto:lb@laurentbloch.org" class="">lb@laurentbloch.org</a><br class="">Si vous trouvez que l'éducation coûte cher, essayez l'ignorance !<br class="">(A. Lincoln)<br class="">_______________________________________________<br class="">This email is relayed from members at <a href="http://sigcis.org" class="">sigcis.org</a>, the email discussion<br class="">list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member<br class="">posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list<br class="">archives are at <a href="http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/" class="">http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/</a> and<br class="">you can change your subscription options at<br class=""><a href="http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org" class="">http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org</a> <br class=""></blockquote><br class=""><br class=""><br class="">--<br class="">James W. Cortada<br class="">Senior Research Fellow<br class="">Charles Babbage Institute<br class="">University of Minnesota<br class=""><a href="mailto:jcortada@umn.edu" class="">jcortada@umn.edu</a><br class="">608-274-6382 <br class=""></blockquote><br class=""><br class="">--<br class="">Laurent Bloch - <a href="https://laurentbloch.net" class="">https://laurentbloch.net</a> - <a href="mailto:lb@laurentbloch.org" class="">lb@laurentbloch.org</a><br class="">Si vous trouvez que l'éducation coûte cher, essayez l'ignorance !<br class="">(A. Lincoln) <br class=""></blockquote><br class=""><br class=""> --<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br class=""> Laurent Bloch - <a href="https://laurentbloch.net" class="">https://laurentbloch.net</a> - <a href="mailto:lb@laurentbloch.org" class="">lb@laurentbloch.org</a><br class=""> Si vous trouvez que l'éducation coûte cher, essayez l'ignorance !<br class=""> (A. Lincoln)<br class=""><br class=""><br class=""></blockquote><br class=""><br class="">--<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br class="">Laurent Bloch -<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://laurentbloch.net/" class="">https://laurentbloch.net</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><<a href="https://laurentbloch.net/" class="">https://laurentbloch.net/</a>> -<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:lb@laurentbloch.org" class="">lb@laurentbloch.org</a><<a href="mailto:lb@laurentbloch.org" class="">mailto:lb@laurentbloch.org</a>><br class="">Si vous trouvez que l'éducation coûte cher, essayez l'ignorance !<br class="">(A. Lincoln)<br class="">_______________________________________________<br class="">This email is relayed from members at<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://sigcis.org/" class="">sigcis.org</a>, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/" class="">http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and you can change your subscription options at<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org" class="">http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span> <br class=""></blockquote><br class=""></blockquote><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; float: none; display: inline !important;" class="">--<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; float: none; display: inline !important;" class="">Laurent Bloch -<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://laurentbloch.net/" style="font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class="">https://laurentbloch.net</a><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; float: none; display: inline !important;" class=""><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>-<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="mailto:lb@laurentbloch.org" style="font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class="">lb@laurentbloch.org</a><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; float: none; display: inline !important;" class="">Si vous trouvez que l'éducation coûte cher, essayez l'ignorance !</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; float: none; display: inline !important;" class="">(A. Lincoln)</span></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></div></body></html>