Early operating system command-line interfaces were implemented as part of resident monitor programs, and could not easily be replaced. In 1964, MIT Computation Center staff member Louis Pouzin developed the RUNCOM tool for executing command scripts while allowing argument substitution.[2] Pouzin coined the term "shell" to describe the technique of using commands like a programming language, and wrote a paper describing how to implement the idea in the Multics operating system.[3] Pouzin returned to his native France in 1965, and Schroeder developed the first Multics shell with the assistance of an unnamed man from General Electric.[2] Schroeder's Multics shell was the predecessor to the Unix shell, which is still in use today.[4]
Working with Pat Crisman and Louis Pouzin, she also described an early email system called "MAIL" to allow users on the Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS) at MIT to send notifications to others about backups of files.[1][5][6] Each user's messages would be added to a local file called "MAIL BOX", which would have a “private” mode so that only the owner could read or delete messages.[7] The proposed uses of the proto-email system were for communication from CTSS to notify users that files had been backed up, discussion between authors of CTSS commands, and communication from command authors to the CTSS manual editor.[7] The service only made it possible to leave messages for the other users on the same computer. The idea to allow users to send messages between computers was developed later by Ray Tomlinson in 1971.[8]
References
^ abShevinsky, Elissa (2015). Lean Out: The Struggle for Gender Equality in Tech and Start-up Culture. OR Books. ISBN978-1939293862.
^ abVan Vleck, T. (January 2012). "Electronic Mail and Text Messaging in CTSS, 1965-1973". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 34 (1): 4–6. doi:10.1109/MAHC.2012.6. S2CID201795798.
^Boryczka, Urszula; Probierz, Barbara; Kozak, Jan (2016). "Automatic Categorization of Email into Folders by Ant Colony Decision Tree and Social Networks". Intelligent Decision Technologies 2016. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies. Vol. 57. pp. 71–81. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-39627-9_7. ISBN978-3-319-39626-2.