multiprogrammingn.
/ˌmʌltɪˈprəʊɡramɪŋ/, U.S. /ˌməltiˈproʊˌɡræmɪŋ/; see also multi- comb. form. Computing.
The execution of two or more independent programs concurrently.
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society > computing and information technology > programming language > programme execution > [noun] > concurrent execution
multiprogramming1959
overlap1963
1959 Communications Assoc. Computing Machinery 2 15/1 The normal requirement in multiprogramming is to communicate with a particular program and at the same time allow all other programs to proceed... We now desire to stop a program rather than the machine.
1965 A. G. Favret Introd. Digital Computer Applic. xvi. 234 Multiprogramming techniques will probably also be used in some industrial process control applications where one computer is utilized to control several different processes on a time-shared basis.
1973 P. W. Murrill & C. L. Smith Introd. Computer Sci. vii. 260 The objective of multi~programming is to maintain two or more programs in memory simultaneously so that the processor can be working on one program while it is waiting for an input or output operation to be completed in the other program.
1994 IEEE Ann. Hist. Computing 16 46/2 All these requirements led the team to conclude that a multiprogramming operating system must be an essential part of the graphics system.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1959