Editing Library (computing) (section)

== History ==

The idea of a computer library dates back to the first computers created by [[Charles Babbage]]. An 1888 paper on his [[Analytical Engine]] suggested that computer operations could be punched on separate cards from numerical input. If these operation punch cards were saved for reuse then "by degrees the engine would have a library of its own."<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.fourmilab.ch/babbage/hpb.html |first=H. P. |last=Babbage |journal=Proceedings of the British Association |date=September 12, 1888 |location=Bath|title=The Analytical Engine }}</ref>

[[File:FirstCodeLibrary-ESDAC-ThePreparationOfProgramsForAnElectronicDigitalComputer-1951.jpg|thumb|A woman working next to a filing cabinet containing the subroutine library on reels of punched tape for the EDSAC computer.]]

In 1947 [[Herman Goldstine|Goldstine]] and [[John von Neumann|von Neumann]] speculated that it would be useful to create a "library" of [[subroutine]]s for their work on the [[IAS machine]], an early computer that was not yet operational at that time.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Goldstine|first=Herman H.|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9781400820139|title=The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann|date=2008-12-31|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-2013-9|location=Princeton|doi=10.1515/9781400820139}}</ref> They envisioned a physical library of [[magnetic wire recording]]s, with each wire storing reusable computer code.<ref>{{cite report |last1=Goldstine |first1=Herman |last2=von Neumann |first2=John |author-link1=Herman Goldstine |author-link2=John von Neumann |date=1947 |title=Planning and coding of problems for an electronic computing instrument |publisher=Institute for Advanced Study |pages=3, 21–22 |oclc=26239859 |quote=it will probably be very important to develop an extensive "library" of subroutines}}</ref>

Inspired by von Neumann, [[Maurice Wilkes|Wilkes]] and his team constructed [[EDSAC]]. A [[filing cabinet]] of [[punched tape]] held the subroutine library for this computer.<ref>{{Cite conference|last=Wilkes|first=M. V.| title=1951 International Workshop on Managing Requirements Knowledge |date=1951|chapter=The EDSAC Computer| page=79 |chapter-url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/afips.1951.13|conference=1951 International Workshop on Managing Requirements Knowledge|publisher=IEEE|doi=10.1109/afips.1951.13}}</ref> Programs for EDSAC consisted of a main program and a sequence of subroutines copied from the subroutine library.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Campbell-Kelly |first1=Martin |date=September 2011 |title=In Praise of 'Wilkes, Wheeler, and Gill' |url=https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2011/9/122802-in-praise-of-wilkes-wheeler-and-gill/fulltext |journal=Communications of the ACM |volume=54 |issue=9 |pages=25–27 |doi=10.1145/1995376.1995386|s2cid=20261972 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> In 1951 the team published the first textbook on programming, ''[[The Preparation of Programs for an Electronic Digital Computer]]'', which detailed the creation and the purpose of the library.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wilkes |first1=Maurice |last2=Wheeler |first2=David |last3=Gill |first3=Stanley |author-link1=Maurice Wilkes |author-link2=David Wheeler (computer scientist) |author-link3=Stanley Gill |date=1951 |title=The Preparation of Programs for an Electronic Digital Computer |oclc=641145988 |url=https://archive.org/details/programsforelect00wilk/page/80/mode/2up?q=library |location= |publisher=Addison-Wesley |pages=45, 80–91, 100 |isbn=}}</ref>

[[COBOL]] included "primitive capabilities for a library system" in 1959,<ref name="Wexelblat_1981_247">{{Cite book |last=Wexelblat |first=Richard |title=History of Programming Languages |publisher=Academic Press (A subsidiary of [[Harcourt Brace]]) |year=1981 |series=ACM Monograph Series |publication-place=New York, NY |isbn=0-12-745040-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofprogram0000hist/page/274 274] |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofprogram0000hist/page/274 }}</ref> but [[Jean E. Sammet|Jean Sammet]] described them as "inadequate library facilities" in retrospect.<ref name="Wexelblat_1981_258">Wexelblat, ''op. cit.'', p. 258</ref>

[[JOVIAL]] has a Communication Pool (COMPOOL), roughly a library of header files.

Another major contributor to the modern library concept came in the form of the [[subprogram]] innovation of [[FORTRAN]]. FORTRAN subprograms can be compiled independently of each other, but the compiler lacked a [[Linker (computing)|linker]]. So prior to the introduction of modules in Fortran-90, [[type checking]] between FORTRAN<ref group=NB>It was possible earlier between, e.g., Ada subprograms.</ref> subprograms was impossible.<ref name="Wilson_Clark_1988_126">{{Cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Leslie B. |last2=Clark |first2=Robert G.|title=Comparative Programming Languages|publisher=Addison-Wesley |year=1988 |publication-place=Wokingham, England |isbn=0-201-18483-4 |page=126 }}</ref>

By the mid 1960s, copy and macro libraries for assemblers were common. Starting with the popularity of the [[IBM System/360]], libraries containing other types of text elements, e.g., system parameters, also became common.

In [[OS/360 and successors|IBM's OS/360 and its successors]] this is called a [[Data set (IBM mainframe)#Partitioned datasets|partitioned data set]].

The first [[object-oriented programming]] language, [[Simula]], developed in 1965, supported adding [[Class (computer science)|classes]] to libraries via its compiler.<ref name="Wilson_Clark_1988_52">Wilson and Clark, ''op. cit.'', p. 52</ref><ref name="Wexelblat_1981_716">Wexelblat, ''op. cit.'', p. 716</ref>