Software Engineering in 1968
Brian Randell · 1979
The paper attempts to portray the 1968 software scene, by recalling the principle technical issues and concerns of the time. These are discussed under the headings Software as a Commodity, Programming Languages, Multiprogramming and Time-Sharing, Modularity and Structuring, and The Problems of Large Systems. The paper ends with an account of the major debates at the first conference ever held on the subject of “software engineering”, the NATO Conference that took place in Garmisch in October 1968.