(Unix) On a time-sharing system, a task executing in foreground is one able to accept input from and return output to the user in contrast to one running in the background . Nowadays this term is primarily associated with Unix , but it appears first to have been used in this sense on OS/360 . Normally, there is only one foreground task per terminal (or terminal window). Having multiple processes simultaneously reading the keyboard is confusing.
[ Jargon File ]
(1994-10-24)