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Seven more, one from the illusive Management Information Systems Handbook (1968): "The consideration of object oriented grouping, i.e. product or customer orien

Seven more, one from the illusive Management Information Systems Handbook (1968): "The consideration of object oriented grouping, i.e. product or customer oriented, will lead to a consolidated file in which practically any element is stored only once" (p. 24)[1]. One near hit in a report from RAND Corp (1969), mentioning the "block-structure/procedure orientation of SIMULA" (p. 13)[2]. A really old one, comparing programming language characteristics (1961, p. 337)[3]: "The group also decided that the following language classification methods are relevant: - Object, descriptive, command, and mixed languages; - Languages with stratified and unstratified control; - Sequential and simultaneous communication languages; - Problem oriented (behavioral) and machine oriented (structural) languages" Ref [3] also contains a nice comparison table. Another compares simulation languages of the time, and from eyeing the tables it seems 'object simulation' may have been the ancestral term (1966): "The basic use of a record is to describe an object in the simulated world. The data in the fields of a record describe the 'properties' of the object. The record and its fields are usually given names or identifications; it is conventional to use names which are mnemonics for the object being represented." (p. 729)[4] Ref [4]'s language comparison tables are also useful here (p. 730-733). The next talks about objects in a now familiar way (1967): "We do this by defining the objects that 'live' in the system and assigning attributes to them." (p. 32)[5] The 'object simulation' ancestry is further supported by the following quote from (1963): "Dynamic representation of an object system. A simulation model of an object system is itself a system whose behavior may be interpreted according to a rule which renders a description appropriate to the behavior of the object system." (p. 2)[6] More evidence for this from (1964): "The system to be simulated may be regarded as a set of actions which manipulate a set of objects." (p. 328)[7] [1]: The Archive.org entry says 1969 but the book preface dates 1968. *Hartman, W., Matthes, H., & Proeme, A. (1968). Management Information Systems Handbook: Analysis, Requirements Determination, Design and Development, Implementation and Evaluation (MIS: ARDI). McGraw Hill Text.* https://archive.org/details/managementinform00hart/page/n565/mode/2up?view=theater&wrapper=false&q=%22object+oriented%22 https://archive.org/details/managementinform00hart/page/n565... [2]: *Kiviat, P. J., & Rand Corporation. (1969). Digital computer simulation: Computer programming languages (p. 0109). Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation.* https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/AD0684124.pdf https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/AD0684124.pdf [3]: *Gorn, S. (1961). Some basic terminology connected with mechanical languages and their processors: a tentative base terminology presented to asa x3. 4 as a proposal for subsequent inclusion in a glossary. Communications of the ACM, 4(8), 336-339.* https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/366678.366682 https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/366678.366682 [4]: *Teichroew, D., & Lubin, J. F. (1966). Computer simulation—discussion of the technique and comparison of languages. Communications of the ACM, 9(10), 723-741.* https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/365844.365851 https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/365844.365851 [5] *Kiviat, P. J. (1967). Digital computer simulation: Modeling concepts. Santa Monica, Califorinia: Rand Corporation.* https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD0658429.pdf https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD0658429.pdf [6]: *Lackner, M. R. (1963). The dependency of a simulation language on a theory of systems. System Development Corporation.* https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD0296590.pdf https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD0296590.pdf [7]: *Williams, J. W. J. (1964). ESP The Elliott Simulator Package. Comput. J., 6(4), 328-331.* https://academic.oup.com/comjnl/article/6/4/328/375742 https://academic.oup.com/comjnl/article/6/4/328/375742

Rochus 3y ago
Thanks again for your effort. I had a look at all references, but still consider Robert J. Bobrow's 1971 text the first use of the term "object-oriented" in a CS publication. Ref [1] looks like yet an earlier hit, but the book is about systems engineering and management, not computer science; though I did only have access to a few pages of the book, so it could be a borderline case; the PREFACE says, that "Volume 6 comprises a collection of authoritative papers on techniques and standards specific to systems engineering, or on [...] organization therory, psychology, operations research and mathematics". Your hit apparently is in Volume 6. Ref [2] is not a hit from my point of view; it uses the terms "object" and "class", which was the official terminology of Simula 67 at that time. The use of "block-structure/procedure orientation" looks like an early attemtpt for a term to differentiate Simula from the other contenders, but it's definitely not related with the term "object-oriented". Refs [3] to [7] document the early use of the term "object" in computer sciences, but not "object-oriented". So I think we can conclude the search in the sixties, and in any case you deserve credit for finding the earliest use of the term in 1971. I will next focus on the earliest use of the term for a programming language, which so far seems to be - as already mentioned - the 1976 MIT CSG Memo 137 by Jones and Liskov; I will check other publications by Liskov from that time.

Rochus 3y ago

Thanks again for your effort. I had a look at all references, but still consider Robert J. Bobrow's 1971 text the first use of the term "object-oriented" in a CS publication. Ref [1] looks like yet an earlier hit, but the book is about systems engineering and management, not computer science; though I did only have access to a few pages of the book, so it could be a borderline case; the PREFACE says, that "Volume 6 comprises a collection of authoritative papers on techniques and standards specific to systems engineering, or on [...] organization therory, psychology, operations research and mathematics". Your hit apparently is in Volume 6. Ref [2] is not a hit from my point of view; it uses the terms "object" and "class", which was the official terminology of Simula 67 at that time. The use of "block-structure/procedure orientation" looks like an early attemtpt for a term to differentiate Simula from the other contenders, but it's definitely not related with the term "object-oriented". Refs [3] to [7] document the early use of the term "object" in computer sciences, but not "object-oriented". So I think we can conclude the search in the sixties, and in any case you deserve credit for finding the earliest use of the term in 1971. I will next focus on the earliest use of the term for a programming language, which so far seems to be - as already mentioned - the 1976 MIT CSG Memo 137 by Jones and Liskov; I will check other publications by Liskov from that time.