Simultaneous Processing of Jobs on an Electronic Computer

The purpose of this study was to investigate the control implications of simultaneously processing several different programs on an electronic computer. This paper reports on the advantages of prescribing computer programs such that they have no arbitrary sequence constraints and can be segmented into independent subjobs which can be processed by one component of a computer, for example, an input device. Combining several programs writtern in this fashion would create a macro-program composed of a hierarchy of subjobs. Such a prescription method would allow a properly constituted automatic dispatching component to recursively subdivide this macro-program into subjobs that are performable by an independent component of the computer. The purpose of creating programs so they can automatically be combined and segmented is to provide a queue of work for each available operating component of a computer. This study attempts to demonstrate the advantage of this approach as a method of obtaining more capacity with developed equipments. The results give some evidence for a change in programming methods and a need to devote more resources to improving control procedures to allow simultaneous processing of many jobs.