multiprogramming, batch, time-sharing system

THE multiprogramming system was a computer operating system designed by a team led by Edsger W. Dijkstra, described in monographs in 1965-66 and published in 1968. Dijkstra never named the system; "THE" is simply the abbreviation of "Technische Hogeschool Eindhoven", then the name (in Dutch) of the Eindhoven University of Technology of the Netherlands. The THE system was primarily a batch system[1] that supported multitasking; it was not designed as a multi-user operating system. It was much like the SDS 940, but "the set of processes in the THE system was static."[1]The THE system apparently introduced the first forms of software-based memory segmentation (the Electrologica X8 did not support hardware-based memory management)[1], freeing programmers from being forced to use actual physical locations on the drum memory. It did this by using a modified ALGOL compiler (the only programming language supported by Dijkstra's system) to "automatically generate calls to system routines, which made sure the requested information was in memory, swapping if necessary."[1]

Time-sharing is sharing a computing resource among many users by multitasking. Its introduction in the 1960s, and emergence as the prominent model of computing in the 1970s, represents a major historical shift in the history of computing. By allowing a large number of users to interact simultaneously on a single computer, time-sharing dramatically lowered the cost of providing computing, while at the same time making the computing experience much more interactive.

Batch system-In computing, system for processing data with little or no operator intervention. Batches of data are prepared in advance to be processed during regular ‘runs’ (for example, each night). This allows efficient use of the computer and is well suited to applications of a repetitive nature, such bulk file format conversion, as a company payroll, or the production of utility bills.