CP/M

CP/M (Control Program/Monitor) is an operating system developed by Gary Kildall in the 1970s. It was one of the first widely used operating systems for microcomputers and played a significant role in the early days of personal computing. CP/M provided a standardized platform for running software on a variety of hardware systems, making it a popular choice among early computer enthusiasts.

History

CP/M was first released in 1974 by Digital Research, a company founded by Gary Kildall. It was initially designed to run on Intel 8080-based microcomputers, which were becoming increasingly popular at the time. CP/M quickly gained traction in the industry and became the de facto standard operating system for many early microcomputer systems.

One of the key features of CP/M was its simplicity and ease of use. It provided a command-line interface that allowed users to interact with the system and run software applications. CP/M also introduced the concept of file systems, allowing users to organize and manage their data efficiently.

Features

CP/M offered several features that made it a popular choice among early computer users. One of its notable features was its support for a wide range of hardware platforms. This meant that software written for CP/M could run on different microcomputer systems without requiring significant modifications.

Another important feature of CP/M was its support for a variety of programming languages. It provided a standardized set of system calls and libraries that allowed developers to write software for CP/M using languages such as BASIC, Pascal, and C.

CP/M also introduced the concept of file control blocks (FCBs), which allowed users to interact with files and directories. FCBs provided a simple and consistent way to perform file operations, such as opening, closing, reading, and writing files.

Legacy

CP/M's influence on the computing industry cannot be overstated. It served as the foundation for many subsequent operating systems, including MS-DOS, which became the dominant operating system for IBM-compatible PCs in the 1980s and 1990s.

CP/M also played a significant role in the early development of software applications. Many popular software packages, such as word processors and spreadsheets, were initially developed for CP/M before being ported to other platforms.

See Also

• MS-DOS
• Gary Kildall
• Digital Research