Notes on  BACKGROUND 

[common] To do a task in background is to do it whenever FOREGROUND
matters are not claiming your undivided attention, and to background
something means to relegate it to a lower priority. "For now, we'll
just print a list of nodes and links; I'm working on the
graph-printing problem in background." Note that this implies ongoing
activity but at a reduced level or in spare time, in contrast to
mainstream `back burner' (which connotes benign neglect until some
future resumption of activity). Some people prefer to use the term
for processing that they have queued up for their unconscious minds
(a tack that one can often fruitfully take upon encountering an
obstacle in creative work). Compare AMP OFF, SLOPSUCKER.

Technically, a task running in background is detached from the
terminal where it was started (and often running at a lower
priority); oppose FOREGROUND. Nowadays this term is primarily
associated with UNIX, but it appears to have been first used in
this sense on OS/360.

J3N Research Labs

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