Batch Processing Definition/Meaning:
Originally, a method of organizing work for a computer system,
designed to reduce overheads by grouping together similar jobs. One form avoided
reloading systems software. The jobs were collected into batches, each batch
requiring a particular compiler, the compiler was loaded once, and then the jobs
submitted in sequence to the compiler. If a job failed to compile it took no
further part in the processing, but those jobs that did compile led to the
production on magnetic tape or other backing store of an executable binary. At
the end of the batch of compilations those jobs that had produced an executable
binary form were loaded in sequence and their data presented to the jobs.
Another form avoided the time taken to read cards and print on paper by offline processing, having a batch of jobs on magnetic tape.
The term has also come to be applied to the background processing of jobs not
requiring intervention by the user, which takes place on many multiaccess