etymology - Origin of the term "driver" in computer science


According to Wikipedia:



… a device driver or software driver is a computer program allowing higher-level computer programs to interact with a hardware device.



What is the origin of the term driver as used in the above reference? I’ve googled around a bit but haven’t been able to find an answer.



Answer



Device drivers as we know them (i.e. code that's loaded into the kernel to control a device) have probably been around since UNIX and VMS in the mid-1970s.


Operating systems have always had to control devices (tape drives, paper tape and punch card readers), so device drivers in terms of software for controlling devices have probably been around at about as long as there have been operating systems.


A driver (or driver circuit), an electronic circuit used to control another circuit or component, is an old concept. Since hackers tend to "borrow" hardware terms, I would guess that the term for software drivers or device drivers came from there.


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