Ask HN: Which CS publication used term “object-oriented” for the first time?
Tracing the etymology of the first journal-published use of <i>object-oriented</i> in the context of CS and adjacent fields:<p>[1]: Page 67 in *<i>Edwards, T. (1970). Library &amp; Information Science Abstracts*</i> mentions: &quot;There are 2 retrieval systems: the first is ALBUM, an <i>object-oriented</i> retrieval system for the print-out of indices, names and subjects and their thematic relations.&quot;<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;sim_library-information-science-abstracts_march-april-1970_2&#x2F;mode&#x2F;2up?view=theater&amp;wrapper=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;sim_library-information-science-...</a><p>[2]: Page 140 in *<i>Rustin, R. (1971). Computer Science Symposium Courant 6: Data base systems*</i> mentions: &quot;I feel that there is no inherent antagonism between the relational point of view and the <i>object-oriented</i> network viewpoint in database management.&quot;<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;databasesystems0000cour&#x2F;mode&#x2F;2up?view=theater&amp;wrapper=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;databasesystems0000cour&#x2F;mode&#x2F;2up...</a><p>[3]: Series 2 (1963-2001) and Series 3 (1972-2001) of the *<i>Jon L. White collection on Common Lisp at the Computer History museum*</i> contain records of early Lisp developments and object-oriented programming.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.computerhistory.org&#x2F;resources&#x2F;access&#x2F;text&#x2F;finding-aids&#x2F;102733968-White&#x2F;102733968-White.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.computerhistory.org&#x2F;resources&#x2F;access&#x2F;text&#x2F;fi...</a><p>[4]: Series 1 (1973-2010) of the *<i>Adele Goldberg papers at the Computer History Museum*</i> contains records related to early SmallTalk development and object-oriented programming.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.computerhistory.org&#x2F;resources&#x2F;access&#x2F;text&#x2F;finding-aids&#x2F;102733960-Goldberg&#x2F;102733960-Goldberg.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.computerhistory.org&#x2F;resources&#x2F;access&#x2F;text&#x2F;fi...</a><p>[5]: Page 4 of *<i>Redell, D. (1974). Naming and Protection in Extended Operating Systems*</i> mentions: &quot;... we can regard the function of the operating system as being the transformation of the basic hardware resources of the computer into a universe of abstract resources or objects, and a set of operations for manipulating those objects. This point of view is often referred to as the <i>object-oriented approach</i>.&quot;<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;apps.dtic.mil&#x2F;sti&#x2F;tr&#x2F;pdf&#x2F;ADA001721.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;apps.dtic.mil&#x2F;sti&#x2F;tr&#x2F;pdf&#x2F;ADA001721.pdf</a><p>[6]: A project report by *<i>Eisner, T. (1975). SmallTalk-AT: An Object-Oriented Program development*</i> contains ample mentions of OO.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.computerhistory.org&#x2F;resources&#x2F;access&#x2F;text&#x2F;2023&#x2F;03&#x2F;102739344-05-02-acc.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.computerhistory.org&#x2F;resources&#x2F;access&#x2F;text&#x2F;20...</a><p>[7]: Table 1 of *<i>Goodenough, J. B. (1975). Structured Exception Handling*</i> contains two mentions of OO.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;dl.acm.org&#x2F;doi&#x2F;pdf&#x2F;10.1145&#x2F;512976.512997" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;dl.acm.org&#x2F;doi&#x2F;pdf&#x2F;10.1145&#x2F;512976.512997</a><p>[8]: Lastly, page 2 of *<i>Capretz, L. F. (2003). A Brief History of the Object-Oriented Approach*</i> mentions how the object-oriented paradigm amalgamated from some of the earlier references we discussed: &quot;Despite the early innovation of Simula, the term <i>object-oriented</i> became prominent from Smalltalk.&quot;<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ir.lib.uwo.ca&#x2F;cgi&#x2F;viewcontent.cgi?article=1047&amp;context=electricalpub" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ir.lib.uwo.ca&#x2F;cgi&#x2F;viewcontent.cgi?article=1047&amp;conte...</a><p>I would say the term floated around for a while before some of the explicit mentions above, especially if we include fields as philosophy, psychology and linguistics. I will report back if I come across earlier mentions.