A Brief History of Computer Operating Systems

Stacked Job Batch Systems (mid 1950s - mid 1960s)

Often magnetic tapes and drums were used to store intermediate data and compiled programs.

Advantages of batch systems

• move much of the work of the operator to the computer
• increased performance since it was possible for job to start as soon as the previous job finished

Disadvantages

• turn-around time can be large from user standpoint
• more difficult to debug program
• due to lack of protection scheme, one batch job can affect pending jobs (read too many cards, etc)
• a job could corrupt the monitor, thus affecting pending jobs
• a job could enter an infinite loop