Interactive computing

In the approximately fifteen years since the beginnings of time sharing, or interactive computing, this mode of operation has greatly influenced the development of computing systems. To summarize this development, a brief review of the projections of a decade ago is made, and then the developments of the intervening years are considered under the headings of hardware, process structure, operating systems, and system models. Finally, some predictions of future developments are made, based on observations of the still rapidly evolving technology and the resultant trend toward the special-purpose application of digital systems.