計算機與我們在一起已經有相當一段時間了，但是在現代作業系統出現之前，是什麼使早期的計算機系統工作的呢？今天的超級使用者問答帖子帶著一位好奇的讀者回到了過去。

今天的問答環節是由SuperUser提供的，SuperUser是Stack Exchange的一個分支，是一個由社群驅動的問答網站分組。

圖片由計算機保護協會公報提供。

問題

超級使用者讀者nEw gUy想知道在現代作業系統出現之前，是什麼讓計算機系統工作的：

Operating systems are the basis for modern computing, but before this, what was used in computer systems to make them work?

在我們今天熟悉的現代作業系統出現之前，是什麼使計算機系統工作的？

答案

超級使用者貢獻者RedGrittyBrick和DavidPostill將為我們****。首先，紅磚：

Early computers* ran one program at a time and programs loaded directly from paper tape with holes punched in it (for example). You would program the earliest computers* by setting a large set of on-off switches.

Colossus

Atlas

Manchester

*I am using the word ‘computer’ to mean the sort of device that exists nowadays in the billi***. Of this vast number of computers, all but an insignificantly tiny number are digital electronic programmable computers with stored programs. I am sure the original question is not about how people with the job title ‘computer’ spent their working day. In between those two types of computer, there is a progression of interesting devices not covered in this answer.

接著是大衛波斯蒂爾的回答：

History of Operating Systems (Source: Kent State University)

Operating systems have evolved through a number of distinct phases or generati*** which correspond roughly to the decades.

The 1940s – First Generation

The earliest electronic digital computers had no operating systems. Machines of the time were so primitive that programs were often entered one bit at a time on rows of mechanical switches (plug boards). Programming languages were unknown (not even any assembly languages). Operating systems were unheard of.

The 1950s – Second Generation

By the early 1950s, the routine had improved somewhat with the introduction of punch cards. The General Motors Research Laboratories implemented the first operating systems in the early 1950s for their IBM 701. The systems of the 1950s generally ran one job at a time. These were called single-stream batch processing systems because programs and data were submitted in groups or batches.

History of Operating Systems (Source: Wikipedia)

The earliest computers were mainframes that lacked any form of operating system.

Each user had sole use of the machine for a scheduled period of time and would arrive at the computer with a program and data, often on punched paper cards and magnetic or paper tape. The program would be loaded into the machine and the machine would work until the program was complete or crashed.

Programs could generally be debugged via a control panel using toggle switches and panel lights. It is said that Alan Turing was a master of this on the early Manchester Mark 1 machine and that he was already deriving the primitive conception of an operating system from the principles of the Universal Turing machine.

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