MULTIPROCESSOR OPERATING SYSTEMS,

The history and present status 1965 of multiprocessing, multiprogramming, and timesharing are reviewed. It is concluded that, despite their diverse histories, these techniques are destined to be intertwined. Although the mechanical problems in operating systems that exploit these techniques have largely been solved and the difficult memory allocation problem is on the brink of solution, the important question of optimum operating system strategy in initiating, suspending, and terminating jobs is largely unexplored. Suggestions are made concerning models which might be suitable for both analytic and Monte-Carlo approaches to the optimization of operating system strategy and to the selection of optimum hardware mixes. An extensive bibliography is included. Author