Time sharing (computer science)
Time sharing was the first conceptual approach in computer technology to allow several users to work on one computer at the same time ( multi-user system ) by sharing the computing time of the only available processor . It seemed to each individual user that he had all the computer's resources at his disposal. A local network of data transmission is created. Nowadays the term time-sharing, if used at all, is often mistakenly equated with multitasking . Even if both concepts concern the concurrent work on a processor, it is based
- multitasking based on an idea from Christopher Strachey and focuses on the almost simultaneous processing of processes ,
- while time sharing was first described by Bob Bemer in 1957 and implemented by John McCarthy at the end of 1957 , with the conceptual focus on the simultaneous operation of many users.
The real novelty from the user's point of view was the access to the computer via terminals . For the first time, the user was able to interactively influence the computing behavior of the computer and did not have to wait for files to be processed sequentially.
The first operating systems used with time sharing were:
Time sharing is implemented by dividing the execution time into small areas, which are called time slices. These time slices are assigned to the programs (processes) according to certain regulations (schedule). This means that a program can carry out its tasks for the duration of the time slice.