1. A method of electronically controlling the operation of an internal combustion engine provided with a control system which includes sensors for detecting operating conditions of said engine, an arithmetic unit for arithmetically determining control quantities for controlling said engine through the digital processing of output signals produced from said sensors, memory means for storing therein programs and data for performing said arithmetic operations, and control means for controlling said engine on the basis of the results of said arithmetic operations, wherein contents of said arithmetic operations are divided into a number of tasks in dependence on control functions to be performed, said method comprising: a first step of setting the indication of an activation request for a given one of said tasks through the execution of another task; a second step of setting the indication of an activation request for a task through the execution of said task itself; a third step of searching the set of the activation request indications for the individual tasks; and a fourth step of executing the tasks for which the activation requests are retrieved on the basis of the generation of the retrieved activation requests.