Here is my method of processing black and white film.  First, it is important to know that I use the "Zone System" in my black and white photography.  The Zone System is a method of controlling the original exposure and the film development in order to create a negative that is as close as possible to what I visualize at the time I make the exposure.  Exposure and development are considered together and different exposures require different development.

I process my film in a rotary processor.  The processor consists of a light tight drum into which the negatives or transparencies are placed (in total darkness), a tempering bath that maintains a water bath at a constant temperature and a motor unit that turns the drum allowing the chemicals to wash over the negatives.  When the negatives have been placed into the drum the rest of the processing can be done in regular room light.  The process starts with a water bath called "pre-wetting".  This bath brings the film and drum up to the same temperature as the tempering bath and removes a dye called anti-halation dye from black and white negatives.

Once the pre-wetting is complete the development process starts.  The timing of the development cycle varies according to the type of processing the batch requires.  The type of processing is determined by the brightness range of the original subject according to the rules of the Zone System.  After the development step a stop bath ends any development.  Following the stop bath the film is "fixed".  Fix does just what its name implies, it "fixes" the developed image on the film.  Without the fix the image on the film would fade.  (The film would also have an almost opaque look to it and that opaqueness is cleared by the fix.)  After fixing the film is washed.