Glenda Schroeder is an Americansoftware engineer noted for implementing the firstcommand-lineuser interfaceshell and publishing one of the earliest research papers describingelectronic mail systems while working as a member of the staff at theMIT Computation Center in 1965.[1][2]
Early operating systemcommand-line interfaces were implemented as part ofresident monitor programs, and could not easily be replaced. In 1964,MIT Computation Center staff memberLouis Pouzin developed theRUNCOM 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 theMultics 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 fromGeneral Electric.[2] Schroeder's Multics shell was the predecessor to theUnix shell, which is still in use today.[4]
Working with Pat Crisman andLouis Pouzin, she also described an earlyemail system called "MAIL" to allow users on theCompatible 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 byRay Tomlinson in 1971.[8]
